Into the past
by musikazen
Summary: Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio are on route to Earth when their ship hits a space storm. They are sent into Earth's ancient past where they face gods, amazons, and mayhem. NanoFate. Xena crossover. Not necessary to know the series.
1. Chapter 1

**REPOST**

Written by _musikazen_

Beta-read by _Grand Phoenix_

(Story assumes Vivio was 6 at the end of StrikerS. Fate and Nanoha are 24.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prologue: Coming Home

_On a d__istant planet in __Q__uadrant 4__, S__ector 250_

Enforcer Harlaown dodged left to avoid an energy beam. She raised Bardiche above her head and sliced a five-foot tall ant in half. She quickly spun to her left, Bardiche in a defensive position, stopping a pair of mandibles aimed for her head. In her soft voice she said, "Plasma Lancer." Her device's mechanical reply followed suit: "Yes, Sir." Three thin beams of yellow energy shot through the bug that had Bardiche caught.

"That's the last of them, Sir."

"Hmm." She looked at her surroundings; hundreds of ant parts and bodies littered the ground of the desert. The sun was blazingly hot, and with the extra exercise Fate was sweating bullets.

She wiped her brow with the sleeve of her barrier jacket to keep the rolling beads from her eyes when a mechanical male voice reached her ears. "Sir, receiving communication from Sergeants Aleron, Rees, and Val."

She looked down at her device. "Allow communication." Three holographic windows appeared in a row with the Sergeant's faces in each.

"Sir." They saluted her.

She returned their salute. "Report, Sergeant Aleron."

Her eyes looked at a twenty-year-old man with messy blond hair, blue eyes, and a cowboy-like voice "After battling these overgrown ants only five men were injured and no one was killed. The injured are being treated by the medical team as we speak. The rest of my squad has done a thorough search of the area; there is no sign of the device. End of report."

She nodded. Her gaze shifted to Sergeant Rees, a thirty-year-old man with a stubble beard, neatly combed black hair, and green eyes. "No casualties and no device." The usual gruff and curt voice of the sergeant stated. Again Fate nodded and looked at the only female of the three sergeants.

She was around twenty-years-old with long black hair tied into a ponytail and two long strands surrounding her face. Her brown eyes looked at Fate as what sounded similar to a British accent spoke. "No causalities here, either. I sent my men down into the ant hill the device might…" Sergeant Val turned her head as she looked at one of the men calling her. She examined something that the man passed her. She looked at Fate with a bright smile as she showed her a small, golden, spherical object with a flat, green face. "We have the device!" she said with pride of her men's accomplishment.

"Good job. Have the device sealed our mission is over." Fate saluted the Sergeants and ended communication after their return salute.

"Bardiche open comlink to Admiral Berg" a man in his forties with a rugged look appeared in the holographic screen. She saluted the Admiral. "This is Lieutenant Enforcer Harlaown. The device has been secured and is being sealed. Only five men were injured."

"Good work, Lieutenant Enforcer Harlaown. I'll have transporters there within five minutes." Fate nodded and severed the link.

She was finally going home for a well-deserved vacation after four years of being away.

_________________

_TSAB Academy_

After being blasted by a blue energy beam, a short green-haired girl was falling from the sky into a cushion of pink energy strands.

"Alright mock battle over" the voice of the fierce white devil resounded in the training field.

The girl's opponent, a long purple-haired boy landed near her and extended his hand to her. She grasped it and stood up with his help. They headed to their instructor's location on the sidelines.

"Good work. You two pass the test. Now hit the showers, and enjoy your spring break." Her students nodded their heads and ran off, laughing and planning what they would do over their break.

Nanoha smiled at her students' antics before turning her attention to some stats about them. She just got through five or so pages of graphs when Raging Heart interrupted her reading. "Master, it's 1500 hours. Fate's arrival is in two hours."

Nanoha thumbed her device. "Thanks, Raging Heart." She proceeded to close the holographic screens and run home to freshen up and pick up her ten-year-old daughter before heading to the transport docks.

______________

"And then Urda and I threw water balloons at the boys when they tried to capture us, and they ended up in the mud and getting their clothes all dirty, which made the teacher yell at them for playing in the mud and…" Vivio continued speaking to her Nanoha-mama about her school day as she caught sight of a pair of blood-red eyes with a suitcase heading towards them.

Fate signaled an excited Vivio to keep quiet about her presence. The child got the hint because she continued to tell her story without giving her Nanoha-mama any hint of the person approaching them.

Nanoha was laughing at Vivio's story when she felt a pair of arms hug her from behind. Her body unconsciously leaned into the embrace, her mind registering the feel and earthy mint scent of her long-time friend.

"Fate-chan," she whispered as she picked her head up her blue eyes locking with a pair of red that she missed for four years.

"I am back, Nanoha" her silky soft voice brought Nanoha a feeling of warmth, calm, and longing that only her friend could evoke.

The blonde's ears caught a whispered "I've missed you" from the lips beneath her.

Vivio jumped up and fiercely hugged her two mamas before they headed into their own world. "Hi, Fate-mama! I've missed you, too!" Nanoha and Fate enjoying the child's enthusiasm each placed an arm around Vivio's back the family sharing in a group hug they hadn't experienced in a long time.

"I've missed you, too, Vivio," a soft and happy voice resonated.

____________________

Fate parked the black modified car in the driveway of their small residential home. The family exited the car and walked to the door with Vivio carrying her Fate-mama's suitcase.

Fate pulled and held the door open to allow Nanoha and Vivio to enter first. She heard Nanoha's playful voice as she entered the house. "Why thank you, kind sir. It's been a while since I have met a gentleman such as you."

Fate played along, giving Nanoha a gentlemanly smile and bow. "I just couldn't resist your fair beauty, my lady. My body merely acted on its own." They both broke out laughing. Fate straightened up from her bow and walked through the door. Vivio smiled happily at her mothers' display. She hadn't seen Nanoha as happy as she was when her Fate-mama was around.

In the midst of the laughter, a loud roaring sound cut through the air. Nanoha and Fate stopped laughing and looked at Vivio's reddened face.

"I guess it's time to eat." Nanoha said.

Fate looked at Nanoha. "Hmm, I guess so."

The family took off their shoes and walked on the hardwood flooring, passing cream-colored walls decorated with contemporary art pieces, into the open floor plan of their home. Their modern kitchen was furnished with light brown cabinets with black granite counter tops, silver steel appliances, and a rectangular island with four-space bar stools lined up to one side separating the kitchen from the living room. Their high-ranking military jobs gave them enough money to own the luxurious home with some room to spend on other life pleasures.

Nanoha walked to the oven and shut it off. She pulled out the lasagna and placed the rack at the middle of the table while Fate and Vivio set out the plates and utensils. She took out the large bowl of salad from the fridge placing it next to the lasagna and placed a large helping of rice on each of the plates.

Nanoha sat down with the rest of her family. "Itadakimasu," she said as she picked up her chopsticks and began to eat.

Fate took a bite out of the lasagna. Her faced showed that she enjoyed the rich taste of flavor playing on her tongue. "This is delicious, Nanoha! After eating military food for so long I forgot how good your home cooking is."

Nanoha swallowed her food and smiled at Fate. "Well, you'll have two weeks to reacquaint yourself with my cooking before you leave again."

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing." She swung the fork back into the pasta, grabbing a few pieces. "As I am eating that awful food, I will have to be reminded on what I am missing out on." She bit down on the food, her face going into ecstasy.

Nanoha chuckled. "If you want I could occasionally transport some of my cooking."

Fate looked at Nanoha hopefully. "Would you really?" Nanoha nodded as she continued to eat. The rest of the meal was spent with the family catching up.

___________

Their bedroom was similar to the one at Riot Force Six, a giant bed in the middle of the room with large tinted panel windows instead of a wall on the right side of the room. The similarity was one of the features that charmed them into getting the home.

Nanoha and Fate laid on the bed. They turned to look at each other,their faces illuminated by moonlight. A hand moved, searching for something. The first touch of the sought for object caused fingers to entangle with the other.

The blonde spoke to her secret love. "Are your parents ready for our arrival tomorrow?"

A brunette head nodded in the semi-dark room. "Yeah, I spoke with them today. We will be using my old bedroom while Vivio sleeps in my older sister's."

"Hmm," Fate's fingers played with Nanoha's.

"I am glad you're back, Fate-chan," Her thumb rubbed circles around the back of Fate's hand, calming both herself and the one's hand she was holding. It was proof that the other was there.

"I have been really lonely sleeping in this giant-sized bed all by myself," Her eyes looked away from Fate's in remembrance of the many sleepless nights caused by a cold bed that was way too large for one person to sleep in.

Unable to bear her sad face, Fate immediately grasped Nanoha around the waist and pulled her close to her body. Her chin rested on Nanoha's head. The sudden movement startled Nanoha from her thoughts, but she felt warm and secure, protected in the arms of her friend. She snuggled closer sighing out in content. They fell asleep and awoke like that the next morning.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author Note: Sorry for those of you waiting for the next chapter. I'm having the story beta read so it will be some time before I post it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 Leaving on a Trip

"Are we all set to go!" Fate called to her family from downstairs as she made her family a quick breakfast consisting of eggs and toast with cheese. She placed the food on the table when her 10-year-old daughter ran down the stairs dressed in a black skirt and yellow t-shirt with a heart shape in the middle and a light orange jacket. Her hair was done up in the customary twin tails held up by green ribbons.

Her daughter was followed by her mother walking at a more leisurely pace. She wore a blue skirt with a white sweater as she walked toward Fate, who wore black trousers and leather jack with a yellow shirt underneath.

"Good morning Fate-chan/ mama" they both said in unison.

"Good morning" she echoed as they both hugged her with Nanoha giving her a peck on the cheek. Fate felt a tug on her shirt and looked down at Vivio's pouting face "I want to kiss Fate-mama too." Fate smiled and bent down to her level where Vivio gave Fate a nice big kiss on her other cheek. Nanoha smiled at the affection that was still present between Fate and Vivio, despite Fate missing 4 years of her life growing up.

"It smells great Fate-chan" Nanoha sat at the table with the rest of her family joining her as they began to eat.

Fate paused her eating "Do you have everything you need Nanoha?"

Nanoha thought for a moment "Yes, I packed yesterday before I went to pick you up from the transport docks." She took another bite and swallowed "by the way Fate this is delicious." She then looked at Fate eating her food "Are you set to go Fate-chan?"

Fate placed her drink down and glanced at her "Yeah I finished packing this morning." She paused to take a bite of food before continuing, "I placed my luggage along with yours in the foyer. I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget anything."

Nanoha felt warmth go through her caused by Fate's caring nature.

They just finished breakfast when Bradriche's mechanical voice rang in the air "Sir. 30 minutes before Validus departs."

"Validus? " Nanoha gave Fate a questioning look. "That's the ship you were on Fate. I thought your mission was over?"

Fate looked at Nanoha's curious face "Yes it is." Her face gave off a guiltily expression "It's just I need to be on the ship for part of the transport of a highly dangerous device." Nanoha looked almost sad, but understanding won out as Fate continued, "it also happens to be passing by Earth. So it's just that we will be staying on Validus instead of the Asura. Is that okay Nanoha?" Her face looked expectantly at her hoping she wasn't disappointing her in any way.

Nanoha's calm and caring voice put Fate at ease "Yes. It's alright Fate-chan."

Vivio piped up excitedly causing her parents to look at her "Cool! I get to see where Fate-mama works!"

Fate lifted Vivio into her arms. "Yes, you do Vivio" she said as she rubbed noses with her child. Vivio laughed and ran for the door excitedly once she was placed on the ground.

She stopped a moment when she realized her parents were to slow to move "Well come on! Let's go! I want to see Fate-mama's work place."

"Okay! Okay! Vivio were coming!" Nanoha-mama said happy that she can just be with her family even if Fate did have to work for a bit on the way to Earth.

Nanoha and Fate grabbed the luggage. "Alright then were off" Fate told Vivio as she was carrying the luggage to the car. After securing the luggage, they drove off to the transport docks laughing and singing songs on the way there.

____________

_Transport docks_

"Cargo ship Tractus is boarding passengers please proceed to boarding dock. Navel ship Specus will be departing in 2 hours" the voice of a female transport attendant filtered through the air in the background as Nanoha and her family entered the transport docks.

A young teenage boy wheeling a baggage cart walked up to the family "Here ma'am let me get that for you" reaching for their luggage. Nanoha and Fate allowed him to take the bags from them. "Thank you" Nanoha said.

He nodded "where to ma'ams?"

Fate spoke up "dock 4B."

He started wheeling the luggage cart toward 4B. A female voice came from the PA system "Last minute boarding call for Validus. Last minute boarding call for Validus. All Personal please proceed to dock 4B. Validus will be departing in 15 minutes." The click of the speaker was heard at the end of the announcement.

"We should hurry up" Fate said as she and her family with the luggage boy quickly hurried through security. They made it onto the boarding dock without a minute to spare. They disappeared in a beam of green light and reappeared in Validus' transport bay where personnel were scurrying about readying the ship for orbit.

A black haired boy wearing an enforcer's uniform approached the family saluting them as they saluted him back, "Admiral Berg wishes to speak with you Lieutenant Enforcer Harlaown."

Her voice held an authoritive note as she addressed the lower ranked enforcer "I'll be there shortly. Escort my family to my cabin in the meantime." She said as she gave him her key card. He took the card and looked at Nanoha and Vivio.

Fate looked at her family before heading to the admiral her tone gentle "I'll see you guys soon okay." They nodded as they parted ways following the enforcer to Fate's cabin.

Fate walked to the bay area where the crewmen were running about preparing Validus to launch. She proceeded to the helm where the admiral was issuing orders left and right.

"Sir" she saluted.

"Lieutenant" He saluted her back. "I need you to place a seal on the device to ensure it won't awaken when we warp through space."

"Yes sir. I'll head to special storage cell D now." The admiral shifted his attention back to the bay area trusting his subordinate to carry out the command.

____________

_Fate's Cabin_

The enforcer slid Fate's card down the card slot causing the solid metal door to slide open with a hiss "Here you are ladies."

Nanoha and Vivio walked into the sparsely decorated room. The room's size was 10' x 16' relatively large considering the standardize room could only fit one person and nothing else. The florescent lights illuminated the room and glinted off the metallic walls. On the left side in the corner, there was a small bed able to fit one person comfortably. Across from the bed was a small desk on which sat a picture of Nanoha and Vivio playing in the water at a Midchildan beach. To the right of the door the same side as the desk was a 2' x 2' sized closet.

The enforcer placed some of the luggage he'd been carrying on the left side of door. "I'll have the crewman on duty in this sector bring in two more beds for your stay. Okay." He looked at her expectantly for either a confirmation or some order.

"Yeah that will be alright" Nanoha said after finishing inspecting the room and adding her luggage to the floor as well. It takes 2 full days to reach Earth from Midchilda, so at least they would be comfortable during their one night stay on board the Validus.

The enforcer nodded and walked out of the room giving Nanoha and Vivio their privacy.

Vivio compared her enforcer mother's room to her room at home "Fate-mama's room is small and boring."

Nanoha chuckled pausing from unpacking some of the essential things, like combs and toothbrushes, from their suitcases "Well Fate-mama can't have a room as colorful or big as yours Vivio when she is here."

"Why not?" the child looked at her as if it were weird not to have a brightly colored room big enough to play in.

"Because, here, Fate-mama needs to share space with the other crewmen and machines that run the ship." Vivio nodded understandingly to her. In her mind, it was like how everyone had to share the lunch table or locker room in school.

Nanoha continued to unpack with Vivio's help. She then walked to Fate's closet with 2: towels, tooth brushes and tooth paces in hand. As she opened the closet, she saw a single pole going across the closet and 3 shelves. On the pole hung 5 pairs of enforcer uniforms, and 1 elaborately decorated enforcer uniform with many badges and medals worn for those times Fate had to confer with the Higher Ups, or special occasions. On the shelves from top down: lay her bathing supplies like two towels, shampoo and conditioner, tooth brush and tooth pace. The middle shelf was left empty, and 2 pairs of all terrain shoes and 1 pair of dress shoes occupied the bottom shelf.

Nanoha placed Vivio's and her things on the unoccupied shelf.

The air in the room suddenly crackled with a deep voice "This is Cadet Pantel with two beds for Lieutenant Fate. Can you open the door?"

Nanoha looked around and found a small black box on the left side of the door it had some buttons and a speaker on it. She pressed the green button located in the open/close door section of the black panel box. The door promptly slid open with a hiss showing the faces of the young cadet and his friend carrying two twin-sized mattresses.

They walked in "where do you want them ma'am?"

Nanoha pointed to the space between Fate's bed and the desk. The cadets neatly placed the beds on the ground of the indicated spot, straightened up, saluted Nanoha and walked out the door.

___________

_Fate_

Cell storage D was the most secured cell and a highly restricted area on the ship only the admiral and those with his permission were allowed to enter the room. It required a special key and a series of opening sequence patterns before the door could be opened.

Fate saluted the two special private guards at the door as they returned the salute "I have orders from Admiral Berg to allow me entrance. Please open the door."

The privates seeing the special key that was always on the admiral in her hand turned to the sliver panels on the side of the door. Simultaneously, one placed his hand on the panel as the other placed his eye near the panels screen. The sensor's acknowledging their DNA opened the first door. On the second door lay a panel that had diamonds evenly spaced in a 3 rowed 3 columned section.

Each private touched the diamonds in what seemed like a random pattern. One had to finish the first sequence before the other could take over to input the next sequence. They switched places twice before the door opened up revealing a third door with a circular key whole.

At this point, the privates stood to the aside allowing Fate to place a light blue crystal rod in the key whole. The rod glowed a dark blue and the final door opened revealing darkness.

Fate walked through the opening. Once she was in the room the doors immediately closed and the lights turned on revealing a room, which held many different sized and irregular shaped lost logia. Except that these lost logia were among the most dangerous in the universe on par with the book of darkness, which held the power to destroy worlds.

Fate looked around the objects held in crystal cases. It was found that certain properties in crystal counteracted the power held in the lost logia making it a safe way to transfer lost logia without accidental awakening due to the energy of warping interacting with the power in the lost logia. Then of course there were those lost logia that the crystal had little effect on, the device that Fate's team found being one of them. In such cases it was necessary for a highly powered mage to erect a barrier.

Fate being an S+ mage fit the bill and was now heading towards the small golden sphere. She grasped at a golden triangle between her thumb and index finger "Bardiche. Set up. Sealing mode."

"Yes. Sir." the triangle glowed yellow for a moment elongating to have a pole shape with the yellow energy condensing at the head forming an energized sickle shaped blade.

Fate pointed Bardiche's blade at the seemingly harmless object that could have been mistaken for a child's toy."Barrier seal." Bardiche glowed yellow his master giving him the energy to erect the barrier.

Slowly a translucent yellow cloud formed at the top of the crystal that contained the sphere. The clouds edges projected outward engulfing the crystal "Sealing complete. Sir."

A translucent yellow spherical barrier now surrounded the crystal. After completing its duty Bardiche emitted a golden glow and shrunk back into a triangle, its storage mode.

Fate turned away from softly glowing yellow sphere her job, and headed for the black panel on the right side of the door, which had one simple black button. Fate pressed the button and the doors opened allowing her to exit the room.

"Bardiche connect to ship's mainframe."

"Connected. Sir." She set a comlink to the admiral.

A rugged old man's face appeared on the holographic screen "Lieutenant"

"Sir, object is sealed."

"Good, now head over to your family. That's an order Lieutenant" he said in a playful command before closing the link.

Fate had a goofy grin on her face as thoughts of Nanoha and Vivio waiting for her in her cabin flowed through her mind. To make the trip faster without seeming undignified she power walked to her Cabin.

__________

_Fate's Cabin_

After unpacking and arranging some of their things, as well as playing around with each other Nanoha and Vivio decided it was time to explore the ship. They just opened the door when Fate stood in front of them. They both smiled ,and hugged an unsuspecting Fate.

"Hey. I hope you weren't too bored" they heard Fate's soft voice, still in their embrace. Nanoha and Vivio stepped back and shook their heads at Fate.

"No, Nanoha-mama and I played and unpacked. Now we were going to explore the ship!" the child said excitedly to her Fate-mama.

"Well, allow me to be your tour guide" Fate said with a smile.

Vivio nodded her head and grabbed Fate-mama's hands "Okay let's go Fate-mama, Nanoha-mama."

They both looked at Vivio bouncing in place patiently waiting for her parents to move. Not to disappoint the child Fate and Nanoha walked out of the room and began their tour of the ship.

The Validus' personnel were both shocked and relieved when they saw the usually tough and almost cold blonde enforcer being so warm and gentle with her family, proving that even Death's Servant was human.


	3. Chapter 3

To those who reviewed thank you. This is my first story so I'm glad my writing made sense and was understandable. And to those who are reading thank you for reading.

Some notes about the story

A lots going to be happening from now in the story. I have completed around 9 chapters, the next one is really long, and I'm slowly working on editing as I continue to write the story so you'll have to be patient with me.

_______ indicates end scene, beginning of new scene

***** Same scene different perspective

_italics _thoughts or mental communication

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ch. 2 A Storm Brews

**  
Day 2 **

**10 hours from Earth**

A long white line rotated clockwise on a 10" diameter green screen. The device was similar in appearance and function to a sonar detector only instead of detecting sound waves it detected radiating protons; another screen similar to the first detected free electrons.

While a seaman on the crow's nest is able to spot on coming danger from the sea, these machines detected the debris and storms of space. They are necessary instruments if one wanted to travel through space and survive especially at warp speed.

While a moment ago the machines were quite without any apparent spots they now beeped like the cadence of the heart monitor in the hospital, a small blinking white dot coming into existence on the screen that detected free electrons.

The personnel in charge of monitoring the hazards of space looked at the beeping screen and wrote the coordinates of the oncoming trouble. She then turned her attention to another screen that detected the energy level of the electrons. This screen was black with a white line going up and down. The line went up when a proton's energy level was detected and down when an electron's energy level was detected.

The person wrote the magnitude of the electron cloud as well then opened a comlink to the admiral.

The admiral was in his office when a female face with messily cut brown locks appeared on a screen in front of him.

"Sir" she saluted.

"Private" the admiral looked expectantly at her.

"An electron cloud of magnitude 2 is 5 light years away due north."

The admiral did not look happy with the news "Why am I informed of this only now private."

The private didn't even flinch at the angered tone of her superior "It's a newly formed cloud it just appeared on our sensors, Sir."

The admiral looked almost tired "Alright. Thank you private." She saluted and the screen blinked out of existence.

"Validus. Open comlink to pilot." The admiral commanded.

Validus was the ship's computer it behaved similar to the portable mage device only Validus was the ship.

"Ai. Captain." A screen opened showing the pilot's face a middle age man with a white beard and silver hair in a crew cut.

"Admiral" the pilot saluted.

"Pilot. We have a magnitude 2 electron cloud 5 light years away due north."

The pilot looked shocked "That's too close we can't avoid it in time."

"I know. The only good thing about this is that it's a magnitude 2 so we should be able to ride out the storm without too much trouble. I am counting on your skills here pilot."

The pilot had a hard look in his eyes "Affirmative. Admiral." He saluted and the link ended.

I hope we get through this unscathed the admiral thought as he looked at a picture of his wife and son.

___________________

**Ship's Hall**

High pitched peals of laughter echoed through the metallic halls of the dorm rooms. A short blond child zipped through the corner, working personnel making way for the little tornado to run through as another taller blond raced on her heels behind her.

Vivio continued to run as her Fate-mama called "You can't win Vivio I almost got you!"

She looked back seeing her Fate-mama not too far behind. She looked forward and saw a tall man with a stack of papers taller than his head in her way, but instead of slowing down or dodging the man Vivio picked up speed and ducked her head down as she ran between the man's legs while he was walking.

The poor man as a result became on steady causing the stack of papers to sway to the right almost falling. The man seeing this shifted his weight to the left, but it was a bit too far since the papers then swayed to the left. He corrected himself again causing the papers to sway a bit to the right and centering themselves.

"few, that was close" the man let out a relieved sigh. If he could he would have wiped off the sweat from his brow, but he then smiled proud of himself _I just saved myself from cleaning up hundreds of papers._

He was walking again with his saved stack of paper when another blond zoomed by him. The speed of her run was so fast that it caused her long hair to swing wildly from side to side, and unfortunately for the man carrying papers the ends of her hair sliced through his stack of paper like a knife through butter. Needless to say his papers fluttered up into the air and landed in a scattered mess on the corridor's floor. The man looked around him and almost cried. The blond of course was completely unaware of the trouble she caused him and was long gone still chasing after her daughter.

Fate was gaining ground closing the distance between her and her daughter. She was less than 5 feet away when she gave herself a burst of energy picking up more speed. She extended her arms outward.

"Got you Vivio" she said triumphantly as she caught a squealing Vivio under her arms lifting her off the ground and into the air, her little legs still running her mind not yet registering her new orientation.

At the moment, Nanoha appeared in front of them laughing at the scene her family made.

Fate's and Vivio's hair was in a mess due to the high speed chase. Their clothes were all crumpled and jumbled from the slight collisions with people, railings, and whatever else stood in their way. Although Fate could handle all forms of monsters, top wanted and highly dangerous criminals, and all possible forms of dangers controlling an excited 10 year old was much more difficult.

"Nanoha-mama! Help! Help! She's going to eat me! Save me mama!" Vivio pleaded playfully as she raised her hands to her mother for help. This caused Nanoha to laugh even harder.

"Eat you... hmm. Maybe I should. After all you look quite delicious Vivio" Fate said in a playfully hungry voice. She then turned Vivio towards her holding her like a baby with one arm under her back supporting her upper body while the other wrapped around her legs. She brought Vivio's belly close to her face at which point she started to eat Vivio.

Vivio laughed and kicked her legs as her body tried to twist out of her Fate-mama's mouth tickle torture.

After a while, in between the peals of laughter Vivio called to her mother "Save me!...mama!...."

Deciding Vivio had enough tickle torture for now Fate stopped eating Vivio's belly and gently settled her on her feet.

Vivio's laughter turned into a giggle. She then looked at her blond mother "Did I taste good Fate-mama?"

Fate gave her a content look "Yes. You were the most delicious meal I have ever had Vivio."

Vivio nodded her head "Good. But next time I get to eat Fate-mama."

Fate smiled and spoke to her in her soft voice "okay. If Vivio can catch Fate-mama like Fate-mama caught Vivio. Vivio can eat Fate-mama."

Vivio thought it over and liked the idea so she nodded her head. She then looked to her Nanoha-mama, who was holding some bath supplies.

Nanoha told them in her instructor's voice "I think after running laps around the ship it's time you two hit the showers."

"Yes ma'am/ mama" Fate playfully saluted her, as did Vivio copying her red-eyed mother.

Nanoha merely rolled her eyes at Fate's behavior and threw a white towel toward her, which she caught right before it hit her face.

The family then went to the showers.

_________________

**Fate's cabin**

Fate and her family were packing up their supplies when they were violently jerked to the left. Nanoha almost fell, but quickly regained her balance. Vivio, however, fell on her bottom. The ship continued to rumble like a car on a bumpy road.

Nanoha gave Fate a worried look "Is this normal Fate-chan?"

Fate looked at her not at all surprised by the ships movement "hmm, it must be turbulence it shouldn't last long."

__________________

**Meanwhile outside **

Validus just reached the outskirts of the giant electron cloud. Its mass coiled and twisted violently as flashes of light were emitted similar to a thunderstorm except that the brightly colored clouds were being pulled apart and colliding with each other, moving like a dancer. It was a beautiful seen to watch, but unfortunately dangerous to be in.

***********

**Admiral's office**

The admiral felt the ship jerk he gave a mental sigh _were finally here._

"Validus open all sound channels I have an announcement to make"

"Ai. Captain. Channels open."

The admiral took a breath then started his announcement in his usual commanding voice "This is Admiral Berg. The ship is now headed for a magnitude 2 electron cloud all crewmen report to your stations, and secure all movable objects we're in for a bumpy ride."

******************

**Fate's Cabin**

Nanoha glanced worriedly at Fate knowing that this wasn't normal.

"Are we going to be alright Fate." Nanoha only dropped the suffix when she was either very worried or serious, and Fate knew this.

On the inside, Fate was worried, but her face was calm and collected as if nothing were wrong "Yes. This ship is able to handle minor storms like this. Plus we have a greatly skilled crew. Everything should be fine."

Fate's serene voice soothed Nanoha more than her words although they were reassuring.

They then proceeded to follow the admiral's orders and secure anything that could move which was mainly the luggage. They piled their luggage in the left corner of the room near the door where Fate brought out a special black net that she hooked to the floor and wall securing it.

_______________

**Outside**

Validus was in the center of the electron cloud, which happened to be the most dangerous part as energies were most unstable and highly concentrated. But, on the bright side the ship was half way through the cloud another 2 hours and they should reach safety.

_______________

**The Bridge**

"I want visuals of the outside! Set negative field barrier to max we're not out of this yet! Watch for any electron emissions!" The admiral shouted orders as the ship rocked due to intense pressures caused by the clashing energies.

The pilot and crewmen did their best to maneuver the ship while scurrying around and shouting orders to one another. It looked like chaos but in fact, they were a well-oiled machine with years of training and experience in dealing with dangerous situations.

The visual of the outside finally appeared on the main screen in the center of the helm. The admiral saw the beauty and destructive forces of outer space and really hoped they would make it out of this storm without too much trouble.

_______________

**Outside**

One of the giant masses in the cloud expanded, and contracted then expanded repeatedly. It was getting ready to explode, and it finally did firing a huge beam 10x bigger than Nanoha's Starlight Breaker packing 100x the amount of force. The beam was pure, raw untamed energy and it headed straight for Validus.

**************

The sensor's on Validus were going crazy as they detected the impending attack of the dooms day beam.

The admiral got a visual of the beam and swore. He shouted a command to the person conducting the ships energy "I want all energy to be sent to the engine. We need to hyper jump within 2 seconds."

A short pink haired girl, who helped conduct the ship's energy, spoke "Sir. It takes at least 10 seconds to charge the ship for hyper jump. It's impossible to make the jump happen within 2 seconds."

The admiral shouted at her "then you'll make it possible. I want the jump in 2 seconds." The screen closed.

The energy-crew frantically worked to redirect all energy, and quickly ignite the engines.

"All shields down" a female voice called.

"Energy being redirected in 30 Seconds" another called.

"Energy redirection complete" a male voice said.

The engines received the enormous amount of energy required for hyper jump at an unusually quick pace. The engines surface burned hot flaming red as bursts of blue flame shoot out the opening, the ship preparing for hyper jump.

_____________

**Outside**

The beam was getting ever closer when the ship finally hyper jumped with the beam mere inches away.

The hyper jump jerked the ship forward a bit like a sprinters sudden burst of speed. Then suddenly the ship was rocked out of hyper jump space by a minor beam colliding with the side of the ship causing the ship to spin out.

*************

Every one inside the ship held on for dear life as some tried to get the ship back under control.

They finally brought the ship out of its chaotic flight, and gave a sigh of relief. The ship was in a calmer part of the storm allowing for a brief respite.

_________________

**Fate's Cabin**

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio were seated and strapped to chairs that protruded from the metallic wall on the left side of the room near Fate's bed.

Vivio seemed to be enjoying herself thinking of it as the best roller coaster she had ever been on., and not as the near death experience that it was.

Nanoha's face on the other hand, was green, and her eyes bulging, she took deep breaths to calm her stomach from ratcheting her lunch.

Fate of course was just glad that the ride was over. She looked over at Nanoha _Are you okay?_ She said through their telepathic link.

Nanoha didn't even bother looking at her _Fate…I think I'm going to be sick._

Fate immediately unstrapped herself, quickly jumped off the seat, and ran to her closet grabbing a bucket hidden behind her shoes. She ran to Nanoha whose face turned pale before ratcheting everything that was in her stomach into the bucket that Fate placed under Nanoha's head just in the nick of time.

Vivio unbuckled herself stood on her seat and patted the head of her ailing mother "There, There Nanoha-mama everything is alright."

Nanoha would have smiled in remembrance of the first time Vivio comforted her, however her mouth was too busy vomiting into the bucket. Eventually it stopped and she pulled herself away from the bucket closing her eyes in exhaustion. Vivio continued petting her head, soothing her.

Fate secured and lidded the bucket just in case of another topsy-turvy round. She then walked to Nanoha taking her hands into her own her thumbs rubbing circles onto her palms "You feeling better."

Nanoha opened her eyes and looked at Fate as her concerned voice reached her "hmm. But, I never want to go through that again. Next time we go to Earth I am flying on my own no more ships."

Fate smiled relieved and glad to see Nanoha feeling better enough to joke. "We've made it through the worst part the rest should be smooth sailing"

"I hope your right Fate. I don't think my stomach can take round 2." Nanoha closed her eyes again to rest for a bit after her nerve-racking experience.

_________________

**The Bridge**

"Damage report." The admiral requested from the captain of the crew.

"Nothing critical appears to be damaged. Shields are in working order, and the engines should be up within a few minutes. As for our fuel we're down to 50% due to the hyper jump. End of report" The admiral nodded closing the comlink screen.

_Not bad, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome than this_ the admiral thought pleased with how his crew handled the situation and the outcome.

______________________

**Special Storage Cell D**

Although it was true that nothing critical occurred to the ship's functioning components, something was happening in Special storage Cell D.

Unfortunately, or fortunately in the ship's case, negative energy was traveling through special storage Cell D the sector of the ship that was hit. And because the laws of physics state that energy can neither be created nor destroyed the energy was merely coursing through the room attracted to the positive energy that surrounded a crystal, which contained a certain golden sphere. Because positive attracts negative the two energies intermingled completing one another and unfortunately caused Fate's barrier to disintegrate.

The lost logia of course was now able to sense and detect its surroundings. Thin cracks formed and ran up the crystal similar to placing pressure on a thin sheet of ice. It finally shattered unable to seal the lost logia's thirst for power.

The energy condensed in the room flowed into the spherical object causing the one flat green face to glow. As it absorbed the energy, it became more powerful. In fact, the object now floated in the air and glowed an even brighter green.

Of course, the highly sensitive sensors in the room blared out an alarm that resounded throughout the ship.

______________

**The Bridge**

The admiral's voice sounded through the PA "All personnel remain at your stations we need to get out of this storm. All personnel remain at your stations we need to get out of this storm" he repeated himself so that he would be heard over the alarm.

Now that the admiral was sure no one would leave their post for a security breach he contacted security.

"Security turn off the alarm and give me a report." The admiral spoke to the lead technician of security.

The alarm stopped immediately. "The distress call seems to be coming from Cell D, Sir."

"Did a lost logia activate in Cell D?" The admiral asked hoping it hadn't.

"We're checking into it now" the technician paused prompting the computer for access to Cell D's video.

"Sir, it's the newly acquired lost logia. It's been activated."

"Thank-you continue in your post." The technician nodded as the admiral's face disappeared.

The admiral thought _whose available I need all my crew to run the ship we're still not out of this storm, but we must seal that lost logia_. Then Fate's face came to his mind. He smiled, _of course she will be more than able to seal it_.

"Validus. Open comlink to Bardiche."

"Ai. Captain. Link opened." Fate's face appeared in the holograph ready to receive her orders.

"Fate, I am sorry to bother you while you're officially on vacation but I need you to head to Cell D and seal the device you brought back." He waited for Fate's reply, which didn't take long.

"That's alright. I'll head to Cell D now, Sir." Fate saluted the admiral and then the communication was cut.

**********

Fate turned to Nanoha about to speak when Nanoha cut her off "I am coming with you." When Nanoha saw Fate about to protest she restated herself using her commanding tone "I am coming with you and that's final," more gently she said, "Besides this is not the first time I have sealed a lost logia you could use my help."

Fate receded to Nanoha's point it was logical and she had nothing to counter it with. "Okay than let's go."

Vivio was going to walk with them when Nanoha turned and bent down to her daughter's level so that they were talking on even ground, she then spoke seriously "Vivio you stay here alright Fate-mama and I will be back shortly in the mean time this is the safest place for you to be right now."

Vivio looked down, away from Nanoha's face. She didn't want to be left alone. Nanoha knew Vivio didn't like the idea of both her parents not being around, and this will be the first time she will actually be alone with no adult supervision. It was a very scary thought for a child.

Nanoha hugged her for a while and then pulled back. She tilted Vivio's downturned head to look at her face "I promise we'll be back Vivio. You promise to stay where it's safe?"

Vivio heard her mother's pleading tone she was really worried about her so she decided to put Nanoha's mind at ease and brave what may come "Yes. Nanoha-mama I promise to stay where it's safe."

Nanoha smiled and then stood up turning to an awaiting Fate. She nodded her head to Fate and walked out the door heading for Cell D.

_____________________

As they raced through the hallways, they placed on their barrier jacks. When Fate reached the door to Cell D, she looked at the awaiting guards.

"Open the doors" She commanded.

They nodded their heads and opened the doors.

The two walked in through the doors a little shadow following them, the devices and their masters too focused on the disaster in the room to notice.

The doors closed behind them sealing them to their fate.

They spotted the brightly glowing green ball floating in the air still sucking the energy in the room.

"Divine buster!"

Her device twinkled "Set up. Ready. Master."

"Shoot!" Raging Heart now looking like a spear shot a pink ball of energy straight for the glowing ball as Fate raised Bardiche and slashed it clean through. But, both attacks were meaningless in fact the glowing ball enjoyed them there attacks gave it even more energy to feed on.

Fate stepped back as the ball went from bright green to white. The raw energy from the outside combined with the energy of two S+ mage attacks sent the ball into energy overload. All the energy that was absorbed released itself in a blinding white attack. The bright light caused the occupants of the room to close their eyes and then they knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the long chapter I promised. Enjoy

___ indicates end scene, beginning of new scene

**** same scene different perspective

_Italics_ thoughts or mental talk

**Bold** in body text is emphasis

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ch.3 Where are we?

Two adult bodies and one child's lay on the dirt road forming the shape of a triangle. All three dressed in what was considered to be strange clothes for this country. One adult was a female with blond hair. She looked to be around 5'8" in height, which was a bit above the average for a female. She wore black trousers and a yellow T-shirt. The other female, a brunette around 5'2" wore a jean skirt with a white top on. The last the body of a female child had on brown training pants and a forest green t-shirt. Nothing of much value could be found on them besides the gold triangle on the back of a black gloved hand, what looked to be a ruby sphere around the brunette's neck, and a gold spherical ball with one flat dull green face that lay in the dirt in the center of the laying bodies.

The blonde stirred first her eyes fluttering open seeing not the metallic walls of a ship, but open clear blue sky. She closed her eyes again trying to remember where she was and how she got here. Images of giant ants, a ship, and a glowing white ball flashed through her mind. Then she remembered she was trying to seal the lost logia with Nanoha when the ball glowed white and knocked them out. She sat up slowly testing for any injury of which she found none. She then stood up and looked around. She found Nanoha lying next to her, the source of their trouble the golden sphere between them, and to her utter surprise a little blonde girl that she recognized as Vivio.

At this point Nanoha's hand twitched and her eyes slowly opened meeting sky blue. As relieved as she was to see the sky she couldn't help but wonder how she got to her present location when a moment before she was on a ship battling a glowing ball.

Sensing her body was uninjured, she slowly got up into a standing position. She spotted Fate and smiled. However, her smile soon turned into a frown of worry when she saw the unmoving body of her daughter. She immediately rushed to her side.

Fate seeing Nanoha's distress spoke up soothingly "she's alright Nanoha." She pointed to Vivio's chest "look she's breathing."

At that moment, the child's little hands moved to rub the sleep from her eyes. Not too long after, she found herself in a bone-crushing hug given to her by a very worried Nanoha-mama "Vivio! Don't you ever scary me like that again!"

Vivio was confused but said "Okay, Nanoha-mama I won't."

After a while, Nanoha pulled back now that the worry for her child's life was gone, anger coursed through her body, "What are you doing here?! I thought I told you to stay in the cabin! You promised me you would!"­­­­­­­­­­

Vivio corrected her "I did keep my promise. I promised you I would stay in the safest place, and the safest place in the whole wide universe is by Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama."

Nanoha looked at Vivio flabbergasted. What Vivio told her couldn't be right she distinctly remembered her promising to stay in the cabin. At this point Raging Heart got her attention "Master. Vivio speaks the truth. I have an audio recording of the incident."

"Can you play it for me Raging Heart."

Raging Heart's surface twinkled before an audio feed of the conversation resounded through the air:

Nanoha's voice- "I promise we'll be back Vivio. You promise to stay where it's safe?"

(a second later)

Vivio's voice- "Yes. Nanoha-mama I promise to stay where it's safe."

Nanoha was shocked, but there it was in crystal clear audio proof "Well, I'll be."

"I am sorry for doubting you Vivio" Nanoha hugged Vivio again in apology.

Nanoha heard a twinkling voice in her mind _You'll have to chose your words more carefully Nanoha, otherwise 10 year old girls will best you._

Nanoha looked at Fate exasperated. She then took notice of her surroundings. They were on a narrow dirt road with nothing but trees surrounding them on either side. She looked to the only person present with many other worldly experiences "Fate-chan where are we? And how did we get here?"

Fate looked at her and explained what she knew "Well, we got here because of that golden ball, which happens to be a device that can tear through the space fabric into other dimensions. Unfortunately the tearing causes dimensional holes, which if a big enough hole is made can cause that particular dimension to cave in on itself that's why its classed as Grade A lost logia. As to where we are, I only know we are in another dimension."

Nanoha took in her words worry setting in. She decided to have the rest of the conversation telepathically as to not worry Vivio, who was currently looking around the area.

_Are we stuck here Fate._ Nanoha's voice filtered through the blonde's head.

The blonde was thinking of what to say to calm Nanoha's worry, _I don't think we're stuck here because we have the dimensional shift device. The only problem is how to activate the device without destroying this dimension._

Nanoha was a bit relieved by Fate's words, but her mind thought about the difficulty in analyzing a lost logia without the assistance of the TSAB's top researchers and scientists. She shook her head there was still hope. Besides her family was safe and they still had their devices. They could surely overcome any obstacle in their way.

Bardiche's voice interrupted her thoughts "Sir, scanners indicate this world is Earth, but not you're Earth."

Nanoha looked at the gold triangle confused "huh? How can this be Earth, and not Earth."

Fate looked at Nanoha "It makes sense. We are in another dimension so this is Earth, but not the Earth of our dimension.

Nanoha's face gave an "Oh" expression. She looked to Vivio who was chasing after a squirrel.

_So what do we do now Fate-chan?_ Nanoha's voice said in Fate's mind.

"We'll follow this road it should eventually lead us to civilization. Then once we get our bearings, we'll figure out what to do." Fate answered her aloud.

Nanoha nodded at her "So shall we be going." She started to walk leaving Fate behind. Fate caught up to her and they walked side by side to their waving daughter.

_______________________

They have been walking non-stop for a good 3 hours, covering a distance of 9 miles, on the same road with the same endless trees and no civilization in sight.

They were trained soldiers who could exert tremendous amounts of energy and push their bodies to their limits, but the endless boredom caused fatigue to set in quicker than the actual walking.

"How I wish I could fly. My feet are killing me" Even though Nanoha was in great shape the seeming lack of progress was getting to her.

Even Vivio, a ball of endless energy, was dragging her feet on the ground. Fate herself, who was used to missions on unadministrative planets, was getting annoyed.

"How about we rest for a bit" Fate proposed.

Nanoha shook her head "nah, I would rather we kept on walking till we get somewhere."

Then the sound of a grumbling stomach cut through the air. Fate looked at Nanoha, who had an expression that it wasn't her. Nanoha looked at Fate, who shook her head. Then they looked down at Vivio, who was holding her stomach and looking down at the ground.

"I guess that settles it we're taking a break." Fate said.

Fate then proceeded to tap her pant pockets till she her hand landed on a bulge. She pulled out three energy bars. She gave one to Vivio, who took it gratefully, and one to Nanoha, who gave her a questioning look as the bar was presented to her.

"Since when do you keep food in your pockets?" she said as she accepted the bar from Fate.

Fate shrugged her shoulders, "I usually don't, unless I am on a mission. I must of put these in here in case anyone got hungry on our way to your parents home."

She then turned and led them to a comfortable spot on the ground on the side of the road. Their backs rested against a large tree trunk as they rested their feet and filled their stomachs.

Fate held her half-eaten energy bar to the side when she spoke to her device "Bardiche, area scan of 10 mile radius. Tell me how long it is to the nearest civilization."

After scanning the area for a high concentration of human life forms Bardiche replied "Sir. There is a small town 2 miles north from here. Arrival time should be in 45 minutes."

"Thank you Bardiche."

It was at that moment when they heard a scream. Nanoha turned her head in the direction of the scream "What was that?"

Raging Heart replied "Master, a family is being attacked by 7 armed men."

Nanoha stood up putting the remaining piece of the energy bar in her skirt pocket. Fate, realizing what Nanoha wanted to do, jumped to her feet immediately and stopped her from running off by grabbing her wrist, "Don't. We shouldn't interfere with local problems."

Nanoha looked at Fate as if she were a stranger because the person she knew and loved would never tell her not to help people in trouble. In fact, the Fate she knew would rush right in alongside her, no matter how dangerous the situation.

Nanoha outraged said "What! I can't believe you Fate. People are in trouble. I am not just going to sit back and lie down when I know I can help!"

Fate tried to reason with her, "Nanoha we can't. This isn't our dimension. You don't know what consequence our actions will cause here."

"Screw consequences Fate! We're already here that in itself is a consequence." Fate let go of Nanoha's wrist she made her point. Their mere presence, breathing in this world's air, was a consequence so why not act according to their natures.

"Alright. But I'm coming with you. And if we have to fight you can't use magic."

Nanoha smiled at the return of her Fate "Yes, I know."

With that settled, the family ran off in the direction of the scream. Nanoha spoke to Vivio as they were running "Vivio." Vivio turned her gaze toward her mother as she ran. Nanoha looked at Vivio seriously "when I tell you to hide you hide. Got it." The girl nodded.

Pleased with her daughter's answer Nanoha looked forward. She saw a man wildly swinging a stick desperate to protect his wife and children huddled together on the wagon behind him from a cluster of men, dressed in black leather, slowly approaching with pointed swords.

Using her speed Fate rushed into the fray before Nanoha. She tapped the shoulder of a man in the back of the group closest to her. The man turned to see what was touching his shoulder. He only caught a glimpse of a fist before seeing black. Fate took the sword of the unconscious man using it to fight another man, who heard the clunk of his comrade's fallen body.

Nanoha was 5 feet away from a man when she glanced at her daughter "Hide." Vivio did as instructed going toward the side of the road where she hid behind a tree. She watched her parents fight from her hiding spot.

Nanoha didn't stop running when she side kicked a man in the head causing him to go down like a sack of potatoes. The man near him saw his comrade on the ground and swung his sword at Nanoha. She ducked the attack and moved in punching the man in the stomach. The sword dropped from his hands as he landed on his knees the air knocked out of him.

At this point, the rest of the gang of ruffians became aware of Nanoha and Fate's presence. The leader saw two men unconscious, one on his knees, and one fighting a blonde woman. He shouted orders to his remaining men "You and you get them. I'll deal with this guy."The two men split up one rushing Nanoha the other Fate.

Fate saw the rushing man from the corner of her eye as she blocked an attack aimed for her chest. She flicked her wrist in a circle causing the man's blade to move to the right. She then side kicked his exposed left side causing him to stumble backwards into his rushing friend. As her opponents lay on the ground due to their collision, Fate glanced in Nanoha's direction to check if she was alright.

*************

Nanoha didn't have time to knock out the man she just winded because she had to jump out of the way of a sword aimed at where her head use to be. The man pressed her back swinging his sword left and right as she avoided all his attacks.

From her crouched position, Nanoha spotted an opportunity to attack. She grabbed at his flailing arm and squeezed hard causing him to drop his sword. She twisted his arm behind his back and placed her left foot in front of his right. Pulling her leg back as she pushed him forward caused him to fall to his knees his one free arm stopping him from a face plant on the ground.

Now that the man was stuck in Nanoha's policemen's hold she chopped him on the neck making him fall into unconsciousness. She stood up dusting the dirt off herself.

*************

Seeing Nanoha hold her own with the man she was fighting, Fate turned her attention back to the men still lying on the ground trying to untangle themselves so that they could stand up, however, she didn't give them the chance.

The men were in a sitting position when they saw a streak of blonde. They looked up to see their opponent standing above them the hilt of her sword coming down and connecting with the side of their heads. The two men fell to the ground unconscious.

Fate was making her way to the family man, who was barely holding off the leader's attacks, when she spotted the man Nanoha had punched earlier get back on his feet sword raised and rushing to Nanoha's turned back.

"NANOHA BEHIND YOU!" Fate yelled a warning to her friend's turned back.

Nanoha hearing Fate's distressed call turned around to see a sword swing in her direction only to be stopped by the sudden appearance of her blond friend.

The man had a shocked expression on his face as his eyes stared at the sudden appearance of cold blood red eyes. His mind not comprehending how she covered so much ground so fast.

Using his shock to her advantage Fate pulled back her free arm and punched him across the face. The force of the blow was so strong the man's body did a complete 180-degree turn before it hit the ground.

Nanoha's lilting voice entered her head as if she was not in danger a moment ago _what happened to no magic Fate-chan._

A serious flat tone replied in her head_ What magic? That was natural speed._ Nanoha's concerned gaze landed on the blonde's ram rod straight back. The reappearance of the aloof 9-year-old faced her.

Adrenaline coursed through Fate's blood. Her heart beat erraticly from the sudden sprint as well as the fear for Nanoha's safety. She calmed herself down. Turning her head to look at concerned blue eyes, she gave Nanoha a reassuring smile before making her way to the scoundrel, who just knocked away the stick from the family man's hands.

The leader looked at the frightened man on the ground and smiled he was just about to slash him with his sword when he felt a pin prick on his neck and heard a steely soft voice.

"Drop the sword."

The man did as he was told. The sword fell to the ground making a thunking sound and causing some dust particles to float in the air before settling back down.

Fate moved the sword at his neck guiding him away from the family man placing her between him and the family. She moved the sword down away from his neck but at a ready position just in case he chose to be stupid and attack.

The family man's eyes moistened with relief, his life saved by the blonde stranger. He then saw a hand in front of him his eyes tracked up the hand to the face of a brown haired blue-eyed woman. He grasped it and stood up with her help.

"You okay?" Nanoha said with concern.

He nodded, his voice grateful "Now I am. Thank you for saving me and my family, stranger."

Nanoha gave him a smile "It was no trouble at all."

Knowing that the family was safe and uninjured, Nanoha turned her gaze to the confrontation between Fate and the scoundrel.

No longer feeling the pressure on his neck, the leader turned around to see a blonde haired woman with red eyes, sword at the ready, and her companion not too far away from her, checking on the family. He couldn't believe two women just knocked out his men and foiled his plans.

The blonde spoke grabbing his attention "I suggest you grab your men and leave. Otherwise I'll have to knock you out as well."

The leader nodded knowing the battle was lost. He went to wake up one of his men, who helped him raise the other men so that the gang could leave, their game lost. Fate watched the men slink away and turned herself to Nanoha and the family.

Now that the danger was over Nanoha called to her daughter, "Vivio! You can come out now!"

Vivio hearing her mother's call jumped out from her hiding spot and ran to her mothers.

A brown haired girl around Vivio's age pointed at her as she tugged on her mother's shirt with her other hand "mama, why are they dressed funny?"

Her mother had her index finger to her lips "shh, honey that's not nice."

Although, when the mother studied their saviors she had to agree with her daughter they were dressed in very strange clothing.

Their father spoke "From what country are you from, travelers? I have traveled a lot and must agree with my daughter your cloths are quite strange."

Nanoha's voice spoke to Fate telepathically _What do we say?_

_Don't worry I'll handle this_ Fate thought of a story to say on the spot, which stemmed from years of communication and training in dealing with the locals of unadminstrative planets.

"We're from a remote country far off in the East. Not many of our people travel out of the country, but we were curious of seeing the world. So we left. We were actually on our way to the town nearby when we heard a scream." She effectively sated the family's curiosity while diverting further questioning by changing the subject.

"Oh, you're headed for Mycene. We were headed there as well when those bandits jumped us. Care to travel together? " The father hoped they would say yes, having them along would ensure his family's protection the rest of the way there.

"Well since we are headed in the same direction we might as well go together." Nanoha said after looking at Fate, who nodded her approval.

While the adults talked, a young 8-year-old boy with medium-length messy black hair and blue eyes poked his head out from behind his mother's back. He spotted Vivio standing near Nanoha. Wanting to play he jumped off the wagon and ran over to her.

As he approached her, he caught sight of one green and one red eye. He pulled out his wooden sword and pointed it at Vivio "Back monster!"

Vivio looked at him confused and a bit hurt by his actions. She clenched her fist and yelled at the boy "I'm! Not! A monster!"

The yelling caught the adults' attention. Nanoha looked down at her distressed daughter. She picked up her stiff body rubbing her hand in a circular motion around her back to calm her.

Her daughter's body relaxed as she spoke to her "There, There, Vivio. I'm sure he didn't mean it. After all we do look strange to them."

Vivio nodded her head understanding her mother's words but still hurt nonetheless.

The boy's father immediately ran to his son grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around to face him "Apologize!" His son turned his head away from him "Now! Erebus."

"But! Dad!" the boy whined. "Her eyes are different colors."

Hearing this Vivio stiffened in her mother's arms. Memories of her classmates telling her that her eyes were weird or that she wasn't normal floated in her mind. She knew her eyes weren't normal, but that didn't make **her** weird. She was just like everyone else able to feel and get hurt, and damn it if they didn't get that then they should just leave her alone.

"So, you're different to her too, and I don't see her calling you a monster. Apologize to her now Erebus. Your behavior was out of line." His father kindly explained to his son.

The boy looked down dejectedly realizing that his behavior was wrong. He turned around and walked to Vivio as her mother put her back on her feet, hands lying on top of her shoulders.

He looked at Vivio, who was clearly upset "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." He then stuck out his hand "friends?"

Vivio looked at his hand she felt a bit better, but the resurgence of the emotions from her past were still too raw. She felt a gentle squeeze on her shoulders shaking her out of her thoughts. She looked again at the awaiting hand.

"friends" she said reluctantly as she grabbed his hand. He smiled at her and pulled her forward holding her hand as he ran to the wagon. With their hands attached, Vivio had no choice but to follow him. His new attitude caused her to feel better than before and she actually started to enjoy playing with him.

The father looked at the two women "I apologize for my son's behavior. He is not used to meeting people from other countries."

Nanoha spoke "that's okay. We understand." She smiled at him to dispel any ill feelings.

After clearing the misunderstandings, they continued their journey without further trouble.

______________________

**Mycene**

Mycene was a small town. Its entrance had farm fields, and as you walked in you could see scattered houses made from wood. At its center was the market place, which had either the traditional store with painted wooden boards, which acted as signs, or a bunch of stalls that sold a variety of products.

The building construction was old fashioned. They were made from clumsily constructed wood with thatched roofs, instead of the usual stone or shingle. There was also no sign of electricity to be seen.

However, it was quite a busy place for a small town. The yelling of the merchants could be heard as they tried to drive traffic to their stalls.

The people of the town as well as some visitors stopped to gaze and whisper to each other about the strangely dressed foreigners as they walked by. Some though tried to sell them things.

"Look Here! At this fine red apple! Your taste buds will surely dance from its sweet juice. Only 1 coin" An apple merchant yelled as Fate, Nanoha, Vivio, and the accompanying family walked past an apple stall.

_People are starring at us. _Nanoha said to Fate.

_Hmm, our cloths make us stick out to much. We'll go shopping later for new ones so that we can blend in._ Fate replied.

_Fate-chan what about money? How are we going to pay for it? _

Fate didn't have the chance to reply to Nanoha's question because the voice of the family man, a top the horse driven wagon was talking, "You guys need a place to stay right?"

Fate looked up at the man guiding the horses "Yes we do. Do you have any place in mind?"

The man nodded "up ahead there is a tavern called the Bard's Inn. Their prices aren't that bad only eight coins per night and that includes food and board. My family and me are staying there."

"That's a bit too expensive for us. Do you know any cheaper places?" Fate said.

Hearing Fate's ridiculous response Nanoha interjected telepathically _Fate-chan everything is too expensive for us we have no money. Let's just ask him for some._

_Yeah, sure. We can just tell him, 'we're broke because we're from another dimension would you be so kind as to lend us some money.' No. Nanoha. Subtlety is the key here. We have to blend in as much as possible._

_Fate-chan! your being stubborn and ridiculous. It can't hurt to ask for some help when you need it._

_I'm. Not. Being. Stubborn. I'm being subtle._

_No. You're being stubborn._ Nanoha said as a matter of fact.

_Am not._

_Are too._

_Am not. Am not. Am not._

_Are too. Are too. Are Too._

Fate's face showed no sign of her heated argument as the man spoke to her "Well… the cheapest place I know is The Lard. It's two coins per night for a room, but that does not include the food."

Fate seemed to be thinking it over when Nanoha decided to speak "Look, sir. We have no money."

Trying to stop her Fate yelled "Nanoha!"

Nanoha ignored her and continued, "Could you lend us some? And we'll pay you back later."

The man looked at them a bit surprised but reached for a small pouch tied to his belt. He smiled at her as he threw her the small pouch. "You don't have to pay me back. You've saved my life. And there is no amount of money in the world that I can give to repay you with. Besides I planned on giving you that," he pointed to the pouch in Nanoha's hand, "when we would part ways."

As Nanoha gratefully smiled at him touched by his words, she gloated to her blonde friend, _See Fate-chan that wasn't so bad._ _Now was it_.

Fate grumbled_ No. It wasn't._

Nanoha's voice spoke to her like a mother to a child _And what have we learned from this?_

Fate mumbled _That it's good to ask for help._

_What. Sorry. I couldn't hear you Fate-chan. It must be that darn mental hearing again._ Nanoha said teasingly.

_Alright! Already! You win. Next time I'll ask for help._ Fate cried.

Nanoha mentally smiled it was always fun getting Fate riled up. She then stuck the pouch in her direction "my pockets are too small."

Fate sighed and took the pouch from Nanoha placing it in her pant pocket.

The man's voice grabbed their attention "I guess we will be parting ways strangers."

"Yeah. I guess so." Fate said as the men yipped at the horses causing the wagon to go a bit faster and away from them.

"Fate-chan?" Nanoha brought Fate's attention to her.

"Yes, Nanoha." Fate answered wondering what could be on her friends mind.

"You didn't ask for directions." Nanoha said matter of factly.

At that moment Fate wished the ground would just suck her up.

_________________

**The Lard**

The family eventually made it to The Lard without too much torture on Fate's part. They walked through the wooden door and into a room lit by the sun coming through the window and candles hanging from the ceiling.

There were rows of tables big enough to fit 6 people comfortably along either side of the room. The middle of the room was left open for traffic to travel from the door to the front counter. To the left of the counter was an opening that led to the rooms and on the right of the counter was a door like the ones seen in western saloons. The barmaids used it to bring food out from the kitchen and dirty dishes into the kitchen.

It was the afternoon now, so the lunchtime crowd filled up a good portion of the room. The patrons were of all types, from town's people, to merchants, even the occasional warrior. Talking and laughing took place between bites, which made the room sound lively. Barmaids in short, brown leather skirts and white puffy cotton tops cut low to show cleavage walked in and out of the kitchen with brown trays filled with dishes.

"Let's split up. I'll go get us a room, and you grab a table and order us something to eat." Fate said to Nanoha.

Nanoha nodded and walked with Vivio to an empty table in the back left hand corner of the room. Some stared at them as they walked past others could careless and continued eating.

Fate made her way to the front of the room her long blonde hair swaying as she moved catching the attention of some male patrons, but they soon returned to their food and conversation.

When Fate made it to the reception desk, she didn't see any one. "Hello… Is anyone here?... Hello…"

The desk jerked as something bumped it from beneath. Then an old man with white hair and brown eyes appeared rubbing the back of his head with his left hand as he looked at her.

"Yes. How can I help you, young man?" An old but kind voice said, his vision blurred and his hearing dulled.

Fate looked at him a bit shocked to be mistaken for a man, but didn't bother correcting him "How much is one bedroom?"

"Did you say one bedroom?"

"Yes." Fate said a bit louder than her usual voice for the hard of hearing man.

"hmm…" The old man's hand rubbed his chin as he thought "Well, that's two coins per night without food, and five coins per night with food."

"Okay. I'd like one bedroom for one night with food." She said loudly so that the man could hear her.

"One bedroom one night with food. Right son." The old man confirmed.

"Yes." Fate said as she took out five coins from the pouch and placed it on the table.

The old man turned his head to the right and yelled "Kira! Come here."

A teenage girl with some flour on her face and brown hair dressed in an ankle blue skirt and white shirt ran out from the kitchen, "Yes. Grandpa."

"Get this young man a one bedroom key." His granddaughter looked at the patron in front of him.

"Grandpa, that's a girl." Her tone bored from past repetition of the words.

"Uh. Really." Her grandpa scratched the top of his head a gesture he often did when confused. "Well then, get this fine young lady a one bedroom key."

Kira looked at the wall of hanging keys picking up one she gave it to Fate. "Here you go. It's the second floor on the right."

Fate nodded taking the key from her.

She then looked around the establishment for her family, _Nanoha where are you?_

_In the back left corner._

Fate reached the table and told Nanoha what she did, "okay, we have a one bedroom for one night with food. It cost us 5 coins."

"So, how much do we have now?"

Fate opened the pouch and shifted through the coins "20. After we eat we should go shopping for some supplies."

"hmm."

The barmaid arrived placing 3 plates of chicken, bread, and vegetables in front of them. "Enjoy your meal" she then turned away heading to another table.

"smells good" Fate said. The family began eating hungrily. Nanoha watched her daughter clear off her plate, even the vegetables that she so hated to eat. _It actually takes starvation for her to eat her vegetables_ she chuckled at the thought_._

_____________________  
_

**Market place**

It was around sun set when they headed back out to the market place.

Fate made a mental check list of what they needed _clothes, food, backpacks, brushes, hygiene products… is there anything else… Oh, yeah… blankets in case we end up camping out._

Satisfied with her list she looked around the market for the most important thing, clothes. She pointed to the stall "let's go there."

Nanoha and Vivio followed her as she walked to the stall of clothes.

There were many different colored fabrics. But, none had a distinct shape they were just swatches of cloth.

Nanoha lifted up a white one _Fate-chan are we suppose to make the clothes because all I see is fabric._

Fate grabbed the attention of the merchant "excuse me."

The merchant stopped arranging fabric and looked in the direction of the voice to see three strangely dressed customers. He placed a smile on his face "Yes. How can I help you?"

"Do you have any finished clothing?" the blonde said.

"hmm…" he thought a while then snapped his fingers "as a matter of fact I have a small selection," he went down under the stall bringing up a box of clothes, "right here." He placed the box down.

Fate and Nanoha looked through a bunch of togas as he talked "I usually don't get many requests for finished clothing since most my customers prefer to make their own."

Nanoha looked up after she finished looking at the many different styled and colored togas "how much are these?"

"8 coins for one."

Nanoha grimaced that was almost half the money they had left "Do you have anything less expensive?"

The merchant pointed to a bunch of linen on the right side of the stall. "These linens. 2 coins each that includes the buttons. If you need sewing supplies it's an extra 2 coins."

The merchant looked confused when the blonde and browned haired women suddenly had what looked like a staring contest.

_Fate-chan how good is your sewing?_

_Not great. Yours?_

_Same._

Fate's eyes look contemplative _I think we can manage sewing buttons. What do you think?_

Nanoha had a nonchalant look _I guess we could give it a try._

They nodded their heads at each other coming to a decision they were both pleased with, and turned their attention back to the linens.

Fate picked out a black linen with yellow board, while Nanoha picked a white linen with blue boarder, and a white linen with a green boarder for Vivio.

"Alright. We will take these with a set of sewing supplies." Nanoha told the merchant.

The merchant nodded his head heading back under his stall picking out a medium sized box of sewing material. "That will be 8 coins."

Fate handed him the coins as Nanoha held the fabric and sewing box. Vivio seeing her mothers filled hands decided to help out "Nanoha-mama."

Nanoha looked down at Vivio "can I carry the box?"

She smiled "sure you can." Vivio grabbed the box and held it as they walked to the next stall.

__________________

**The Lard**

After getting all the supplies they needed. The family was now in their one night room Vivio sleeping on their one big bed. Off to side was a small table with two chairs that held their newly bought belongings.

Nanoha and Fate were currently working on making their clothes. They shifted the cloth turning it around, upside down, folding and unfolding.

Nanoha dropped the cloth in frustration "I give up! I have no idea what to do."

Fate glanced in her direction "hmm. This is harder than I thought it would be."

Fate rubbed her head "Let's think about this… What's the easiest thing to make from cloth with buttons that fits with the style of the locals?"

Nanoha gave a joking remark "togas."

Fate's eyes brightened "Nanoha! You're a genius" as she hugged her.

"thank you… Now what did I say"

Fate released Nanoha. Then Nanoha's gaze was filled by her friend's ever-beautiful face. She was almost light headed as she stared into red eyes when her voice broke her out of the spell "Togas."

"What?" Nanoha said, confused.

Fate stood up and away from Nanoha "togas. You know like the ones the merchants and some town's people wore."

Realization set in "Oh!" Then confusion "But, how do we make them?"

Fate glanced at her device "Bardiche. Check database for toga designs."

Bardiche ran through his files until he found one that matched "1 file found from your school days, Sir."

Fate had a confused face on "Okay. Open file."

A holographic screen appeared generated by Bardiche. The screen showed toga designs, measurements, and a description of how to make one.

"You know I don't remember doing this in our school days." Fate said to Nanoha, who was thinking.

Nanoha's face then alighted with the memory of a history class in middle school where they had to do a project about Ancient Greece. "I do. Remember that class with Katashi-sensei" Nanoha waited for Fate to remember.

After a while, Fate shook her head "No. I only remember I was studying for the Enforcer's exam."

Nanoha had an oh-well expression, and told her what she remembered, "Well, we had a project on Ancient Greece for the Cultural Festival."

Fate, enlightened, responded "Oh, Yeah! We did that play where you were some Greek Goddess and I was a Nymph," her face turned red as the full memory surfaced, her voice a bit above a whisper "who had to worship you."

"Yeah! It was fun to see you worshipping me." Nanoha said not taking notice of Fate's flustered appearance.

Fate coughed to clear her throat "Well, how about we work on these togas."

"hmm. I'll do yours and you'll do mine okay Fate-chan" Nanoha didn't even bother for Fate's response she went to the table picked up the measuring tape, and turned back toward Fate.

"Okay. Now strip Fate-chan." Nanoha commanded as she looked at Fate's reddening face.

"umm, y-y-you can take the m-m-measurements with my clothes on" Fate wanted to kick herself for stuttering. Even though they shared a bed and bathed together when they were kids, she felt nervous undressing in front of Nanoha. She knew she shouldn't feel nervous, but she did and it angered her because she didn't know why she felt nervous in front of her now.

"No. You need to be naked otherwise the measurements will be screwed up." Nanoha tried to explain to her.

"Na-Na-na-na-naaaked!" Fate felt butterflies flying around in her stomach and her head was getting dizzy from the rushing blood.

Nanoha was unfazed by Fate's obvious nervousness.

A playful glint entered her blue eyes, _this could turn out to be fun._

"Don't worry Fate-chan!" She said her name in a sugar sweet voice.

Her eyes remained playful as her voice turned serious "I'll take good care of you. These hands" she held them up for Fate to see "will be gentle and caress, this measuring tape around, your body lovingly."

Fate couldn't see Nanoha anymore her head was filled with: _Nanoha seeing me naked. Nanoha touching me. Naked. Touching._ _Naked. Touching. _It was an endless repetition that caused her brain to go on overload.

Seeing her friend's body on the floor she thought _maybe I went too far._ Then shook her head _nah, Fate's flustered face was priceless. _She chuckled remembering a tomato red face before poor Fate fainted.

She moved to sit on the ground placing Fate's head on her lap. Her hand touched a soft cheek _she's beautiful_. She shook her head trying to rid herself of the unwanted thought. She didn't even want to think about why she thought it. She just buried it deep down to a dark corner in the back of her mind.

Her head back in gear, she pulled on Fate's cheeks playfully saying "Wakey! Wakey! Fate-chan!"

The blonde groaned her eyes fluttering to meet a pair of blue above her. Her rushing thoughts were along the line of _huh, what is Nanoha doing above me? Why am I on the ground?_, and of course her mind just had to remind her of the words Nanoha said before she fainted.

Nanoha watched Fate's face turn red again. "You know. Fate-chan. You're just too easy to embarrass."

"It's your fault!" Fate said angrily from beneath her.

Nanoha merely waved off her anger "I was joking before. You can wear your underwear." Hearing silence and seeing Fate's still red face, she tried to put her at ease "There's nothing to be embarrassed about Fate-chan. I've seen you naked many times."

Fate sat up moving her head out of Nanoha's lap "I was 9!"

"and what a cute 9 year old you were" Nanoha teased.

Fate groaned "you're not helping."

"Okay. Okay. How about this… I'll take off my clothes too. This way we'll both be partially naked." Nanoha hoped this would make Fate more relaxed since she wouldn't be the only one without clothes.

_Nanoha's half-naked body,_ Fate mentally punched herself. _This is ridiculous if I keep going on like this nothing will get done._ She decided she just had to rein in her thoughts and act like a mature adult. She could handle it. She hoped.

"It's okay. You don't have to get undressed along with me. I don't want you to catch a cold. When you're done with me we'll switch." Fate's normal soft tone said without a hint of nervousness. She was proud of herself. She was back to normal, and felt like she could do this now without a hitch.

"You sure Fate-chan." She wanted to make sure Fate would be alright.

"Yes I'm sure" Fate gently smiled as proof that she would be fine.

"Okay." Nanoha said with finality.

"I'll turn my back you get undressed." She then turned away from Fate. She heard the rustling of clothes being taken off, her mind imaging the scene, and her body temperature rose. She mentally groaned, _stop it. I have to be calm._ She then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm herself. It worked until she heard Fate's dreadful words.

"You can turn around now Nanoha." Fate waited for Nanoha to turn around for a while. She was starting to worry when Nanoha finally turned, a smile on her face and her gaze nervously travelling everywhere in the room besides her.

"Nanoha It's alright to look at me." Hearing Fate, Nanoha instinctively looked towards her, which was a mistake on her part because her eyes drunk Fate, in all her semi-naked glory.

She forced her eyes to lock onto red ones "so shall we begin."

Fate nodded as Nanoha walked toward her measuring tape in hand. They didn't look or talk to each other the whole time they had to take measurements. Each too concentrated on keeping their thoughts clean and remaining calm to be bothered by the silence.

After the torturous measuring session was over, they both started making each other's togas according to the measurements taken, and the description Bardiche provided.

When all the togas were complete, they joined Vivio in sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

**Me:** No. The people of this dimension don't speak Japanese. There in Ancient Greecce, so all spoken language will be in Greek. For now I'll say they are able to do so because of their

devices, I explain it further in chp. 7. The language they use amongst themselves is not important, it could be Japanese, Mid-childan, you can decide. Because the way I have it set up

isthat anything they wish to say in private they communicate telepathically. I hope that cleared things up.

**WARNING!!!! There is some animal cruelty in this chapter. Graphic level is similar to National Geographic, maybe less. **

With that said. Enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ch. 4 New Meetings

The next morning they got up and dressed for the first time in their new togas. The buttons closed the toga at the shoulders. There were three curved in foldings on the chest area going from one shoulder to the other. Some of the material was tucked in under the breast to act as both support and emphasis, besides Vivio's toga, which was plain going down the front. A sash went around their middle emphasizing their curves as the ends of the sash dropped off to the side of one leg, ending at the knee. The toga itself ended a bit lower than a mini skirt.

Fate's toga was black with yellow trimmings and sash.

Nanoha's toga was white with blue trimmings and sash.

Vivio's toga was white with green trimmings and sash.

Brown sandals with crisscrossing leather straps going up the calf completed the ensemble.

They looked like they came from Ancient Greece, which is what they were going for.

"I think we did a good job. Don't you" Nanoha said as she looked at their creations.

"Hmm. It's not bad." Fate concurred.

Vivio bounced in place, turning left and right, testing out her new clothes. "I like mine" she said to her mothers happily giving them both a hug.

"So, how about breakfast." Nanoha said as she grabbed a part of their things, Fate grabbing the other part.

"Yeah! Let's go eat!" At that point, Vivio rushed to the door when Nanoha's voice stopped her "wait for us Vivio." Vivio moved from leg to leg as she waited for her parents to hurry up.

As they walked their new style of dress got them considerably less attention, making Fate pleased that they were blending in so well.

Fate and Nanoha discussed what to do as they were waiting for breakfast to arrive.

Fate retold what they knew to Nanoha. _We're in another dimension on a world that somehow ended up being Earth. More specifically we're in Ancient Greece in the town of Mycene._

_So what now? How do we get back to our dimension safely?_

_I'm still working on that._

_So, basically, you have no clue._ Nanoha's face looked at her daring her to say something.

Fate smiled nervously, _umm. I guess you could put it that way._

Nanoha smiled amused at how Fate was confident one moment and nervous the next. _So where do we go from here?_

_We could follow the road._

_So you haven't thought about where we're going either. _Nanoha mentally sighed.

Fate corrected her _No I have thought about it. Following the road is just the best choice. _

_You have no destination._ Nanoha cried.

_I don't need a destination. We don't know what's here, Nanoha. There is no point in going someplace specific when we don't know what to look for. By following the road we'll gather information from random occurrences that will than lead to something more specific._

In Nanoha's mind what Fate said was logical only if the right occurrence took place, _And what if we don't meet the occurrences that lead us to valuable information._

_It will._ B_ecause within randomness there is always an opportunity. _Fate said assuredly.

Nanoha had to admit defeat she couldn't say anything against that. _Alright we'll follow the road_.

At that moment the food came and they ate happy to have a plan.

______________________

**On the Road**

They have been walking for 2 hours when a man riding a galloping horse spotted them.

Yelling out a warning without slowing down his horse "I wouldn't keep going in this direction! The warlord Lycurgus is ransacking the village!"

"What was that all about?" Nanoha said as the man galloped away.

"Something about a warlord ransacking a village." Fate exclaimed.

"Should we keep going this way?" Nanoha asked concerned.

Fate nodded "hmm. If anything we'll just deal with them like we dealt with that gang yesterday."

As t­­­­­­­hey kept walking, they met more and more people, who warned them against continuing in the direction they were going.

As they neared the village, they saw black smoke in the distance.

They kept walking Vivio held close between them as they passed by what used to be a village. Being in the TSAB they were used to disasters, but it was still disappointing to see.

___________________________

It was almost nighttime and they were still walking.

"Fate I think we need to stop. Raging Heart. Area scan of 1000 foot radius."

"Master. Area scan complete. Found stream 500 feet away on the right."

"Can you direct us Raging Heart."

"Alright. My master."

They followed Raging Heart's directions till they saw the wide but slow flowing stream.

"Nanoha-mama can I go in?" Vivio said as she pointed to the water.

"Is it safe Raging Heart?"

Raging Heart did a scan of the water "Alright. My master."

"We'll go in after we set camp. Okay Vivio?"

"hmm."

They set camp 50 feet away from the stream with Nanoha and Vivio looking for firewood and anything edible to eat, and Fate making a pit for the fire place.

"Mama is this good?" Vivio showed her a mushroom, which Raging Heart scanned to see if it was edible.

"Poison mushroom. My Master." Vivio let the mushroom drop to the ground and went to look for something else.

Meanwhile, Fate just finished the fire pit as well as clearing a place for them to sleep on. She went to her pack and took out her newly bought knife and started walking to the stream.

"Bardiche scan for edible life forms in the water."

"Trout. Sir."

She took off her sandals, and tied the end of her sash around her waist so that it wouldn't get wet.

"Let's go fishing Bardiche."

"Sir."

She made her way into the cool water until the water was just above her knees. She bent over placing her arms in the water. The sun was to low in the sky, so there was no descent light shining through the water. So, she closed her eyes, heightening her other senses. She felt the gentle current of the water, and heard the nighttime birds, crickets, and other animals fill the air with high, low, and mid-tone notes playing nature's music.

Suddenly, the plunk of something hitting water resounded in the air. The water rippled as Fate pulled something out of it. She smirked as a medium sized body contorted around a knife protruding through its middle.

Once the fish's trashing subsided Fate used her left hand to remove it from her knife. She threw it behind her. Its body sailed through the air before landing on the shore ground. Fate turned her attention back to the water repeating her actions until she caught two more fish before she called it quits.

"What do you think, Bardiche. Not bad, right." She said as she cleaned the fish and prepared it for dinner.

"Yes. Sir."

Nanoha and Vivio already had a fire going as she entered the camp bare foot, her sandals in her left hand and the cleaned fish held by their tails in her right hand.

"Those are some nice fish, Fate-chan."

"Aren't they" Fate said proud of her catch.

Nanoha grabbed some pointed sticks and gestured for Fate to hand her the fishes. She skewered the fishes, from head to tail, and stuck the ends between the rocks surrounding the fire. Every now and then she turned the fishes so that it would cook evenly.

Meanwhile, Vivio talked and showed Fate the things she found when she was with Nanoha.

Fate listened attentively to her daughter as she excitedly spoke.

"Look" she moved a leaf with blue berries on it. "I found these on a bush a rabbit led me to."

Fate's face showed interest as her soft voice held a note of amazement "A rabbit! Really!"

Vivio shook her head up and down excitedly "Yeah! Yeah! He was a brown furry rabbit. He stared in my eyes,"

She pointed to her eyes, "for a long time, when I was picking up some sticks with Nanoha-mama. Then…"

Vivio suddenly jumped up putting two fingers near her head imitating rabbit's ears "his ear twitched…"

She flicked a finger.

Fate had a relaxed smile, enjoying the show her daughter was putting on, even Nanoha was drawn in by the child's story and antics.

"and he jumped away." She started hopping like a bunny her two fingers still on her head.

She suddenly stopped hopping, put her fingers down, and started running in place "Then I ran after him until he ran under the berry bush."

Fate and Nanoha gave a whopping round of applause at the end of Vivio's tale.

"That's a nice story, Vivio." Fate said happily.

Vivio's face went from delighted to annoyed, in seconds, at her blonde mother "It's Not a Story! It really happened! The bunny helped me!"

Fate's voice was calm, trying to sooth Vivio, "I didn't mean you were making it up VIvio. I meant, I liked how you told your story."

Vivio's eyes brightened, the annoyance leaving her. "Oh."

A delightful sent of cooked meat wafted through the air catching the nose's of the camp occupants.

"hmm… smells good Nanoha."

Nanoha took a fish stick handing them out to the almost salivating Fate and Vivio.

However, Vivio's hunger soon left her, replaced by nausea, when deadened fish eyes stared back at her.

She moved the stick down to the big leaf, which substituted plates, pushing it away from her.

Fate saw the gesture and Vivio's pale face looking down at the dead fish.

"Vivio" she called gently trying to get the girl's attention. "Vivio."

The girl looked toward the blonde.

"you need to eat, otherwise you'll get sick" her voice was gentle but persuasive.

She continued "You don't want to make me and Nanoha-mama sad do you?" Vivio's eyes were fearful, she shook her head from side to side. She didn't want to disappoint her parents, it was just that the fish didn't look so appetizing anymore.

Vivio dropped her head to the ground and whispered sadly "I can't eat when it's looking at me."

Fate placed down her fish, and picked up Vivio's.

Nanoha's gaze followed her as she grabbed her knife, and went to a seclude part of the camp where Vivio couldn't see what she was doing.

She cut off the head of the fish and threw it deep into the woods for other animals to eat. She then walked back to a depressed Vivio and handed her the fish.

Vivio's eyes were filled with a fish, but no head. She picked up her head to look into gentle and caring red eyes of her mother, sitting beside her "is that better Vivio?"

Vivio nodded still unease, but at least she was able to take her first bite. Fate held a pleasant smile now that her daughter was eating. Her eyes then shifted to Nanoha's, whose eyes glistened with affection and warmth that she was sure her eye's reflected as well.

____________________________

It's been 5 days since they left Mycene, and now they were in another town. This town was similar in structure to Mycene, but was a lot bigger.

People milled about the market as they walked past.

A young boy around 12 years bumped into Fate.

She turned her head toward the boy when she felt a tug on her right gloved hand, which held Bardiche in storage form. Of course she instinctively held the pick pocket's wrist as he tried to pull away.

He gave her a toothy nervous grin as he stared into curious and amused red eyes.

He tried pulling his arm out of her grasp, but it wouldn't budge.

Nanoha glanced at Fate, who stopped walking and held a boy's wrist in her hand.

She asked her _what's going on?_

_I was almost pick pocketed_ came an amused voice.

"Let go!... Let go!" He yelled in distress, tugging roughly on his arm. Some curious people stopped what they were doing and turned to the commotion.

_You better let him go Fate-chan, your causing a scene._

Fate's eyes gazed at the people staring at her, which prompted her to let go of the boy, who immediately took off. Fate watched him go a bit sad he left, she felt that he must have had a reason for what he did, but now she would never know.

The crowd went back to their business Fate no longer of interest.

They continued on their way, when the people behind them started screaming and running around frantically. Men on horseback ploughed through the crowd, flailing their swords causing destruction and mayhem.

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio jumped out of the way of a horseman heading straight towards them his sword flying around in the air.

Nanoha wanted to starlight break the man, who cut down a young man where he stood, but knew she couldn't.

She glanced at Fate, whose eyes were boiling in anger as well, "we need to help Fate-chan."

Fate looked around for something they could use to fight with her eyes landed on the broken stall not too far away.

She grabbed two poles throwing one in Nanoha's direction, who caught it. "Use this. There on horseback so they have a height advantage over us, but that doesn't mean we can't knock' um down."

They then went to fight the horsemen and help anyone they could.

**************

Nanoha just blocked an overhead strike from the horseman above her when she heard her daughters distressed and fearful scream in her mind _Nanoha-mama!_ _Nanoha-mama! Help me!_

Nanoha knocked the man in the stomach causing him to fall off the horse.

She frantically looked for her daughter, but she couldn't find her in the chaos of running and screaming people.

Nanoha's body coursed with fear and worry for her daughter.

****************

_Vivio! Where are you?! _ her mother's scared voice reached her.

But she was too shocked to answer, her sight filled with the ugly leering man above her. Her mother's insistent voice soon stopped all together her mind unable to hold the link.

*****************

Not hearing any reply from her daughter after her constant calling. She broke out running desperately searching for a little girl with blond hair and heterochromic eyes.

Anyone foolish enough to stand in her way was met with the White Devil's forceful, accurate, and precise blows.

The horseman didn't even stand a chance against her as they were quickly felled by her fury and frustration.

She called to Fate as she continued her path of righteous indignation _Fate! Vivio's in trouble!_

Nothing more needed to be said.

Fate helped Nanoha search for their child giving the horseman the same trouble as her companion.

******************

"Aren't you a pretty little thing! Nice eyes too. " His foul breath, caused from rotting food particles and alcohol, reached her nose as the man pulled her up by the hair.

"You should sell for a good sum. The boss will be pleased." Her body went stiff from stress and fear, _he wanted to take her away… away from Nanoha-mama… away from Fate-mama._

Her mind panicked realizing the severity of her situation, Nanoha and Fate were nowhere to be found, and this man held her by her hair.

Her eyes filled with defiance driven from the fear of not being able to see her sweet and kind parents again.

She punched and kicked her arms wildly desperately trying to free herself.

A lucky blow from one of her arms connected with the man's nose. He jerked his face away from her, but didn't let go of her hair.

"Why, you… I'll teach you how to behave" He raised his arm ready to strike her.

Vivio closed her eyes waiting for the blow that never came.

She felt the tension on her hair relax, now freed from the man's grasp. She opened her eyes to be met with blonde hair, but the wrong colored eyes.

Green eyes gazed down at her in concern. The woman wore a brown mini skirt and green sports bra like top, and carried a staff, which she used to knock the man out.

She held her hand out to Vivio, smiling gently at her to calm the stress the child obviously had from her ordeal.

"It's okay… I won't hurt you" she used a relaxed and soothing voice.

Vivio grabbed her hand hesitantly and stood up with her help.

All of a sudden her mother's frantic voice called out to her _Vivio!...Vivio!... Answer me please!... Where are you?!_

_I'm alright now mama._ The child tried to calm her mother down, now that she was fine.

_I'm with a blond woman near the place you left me._

_***************_

Nanoha felt a pang of guilt at her child's words, _What kind of mother am I to leave my daughter open to danger._

Fate wasn't too far behind Nanoha when she spotted a small blonde girl off to the side, a blonde woman with a staff fending off a bunch of foot soldiers.

"Nanoha! On the left!"

She didn't need any more prompting, and she didn't even question Fate. She did as she was told, and caught sight of the beautiful blond hair of her unharmed daughter.

Her eyes grew misty with relief.

S_he's okay. She's okay. _Her mind repeated over and over.

She calmed down considerably as she reached for her daughter, who immediately jumped into her arms.

They both cried with relief happy to see each other again.

Meanwhile, Fate helped the other blonde fight against the soldiers, creating a safety zone for her family.

The battle was over quickly. The men were fended off by the two women, and one black haired warrior, who joined them.

Nanoha released her daughter both much calmer than before.

Now that the danger was averted, Fate replaced Nanoha holding her child tightly, grateful that she was alright.

"You fought well back there." A low feminine voice said. It belonged to the black haired, blue-eyed warrior, who stood near her shorter blonde-haired friend.

Fate stood up from her kneeling position in front of Vivio.

She held her hand as Nanoha answered the warrior "thank you...umm"

She looked at her questioningly "Xena."

Nanoha nodded "Thank you Xena."

She then turned to the green-eyed blond next to her, and slightly bowed a gesture inherent from her Japanese culture, even though she hadn't lived in her country in years.

The blonde and warrior looked a bit surprised by it not used to people bowing to them "thank you for saving my daughter."

The couple was surprised they figured the child was her companion's daughter because of their physical resemblance. They shrugged the thought away knowing of the world's unpredictability.

"It was no problem" the woman said casually. "By the way, my name's Gabrielle."

The woman, Gabrielle, looked expectantly at her.

"Nanoha Takamachi," she then pointed to each person as she introduced them, "My daughter, Vivio. And my best friend Fate Harlaown"

"You have a unique fighting style. Where did you learn it?" Xena inquired curiously, she was familiar with many forms of fighting, but the style she used was new to her.

Fate answered her "My mother trained me."

Their conversation was interrupted by the village people crowding around them, several people crying in gratitude towards them.

"Thank you for saving us!"

"How can we ever repay you?!"

Others grabbed and shook their hands.

To their savior's relief they soon stopped.

The crowd parted, making way for a man with graying black hair, "I'm Theamis mayor of this town, and I really must insist you stay for the night as a token of our gratitude."

"That's really not necessary" Gabrielle said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Nonsense! We would be most pleased to have you here" The mayor exclaimed. A few in the crowd shouted for them to stay as well.

_You know I don't see us getting out of here any time soon. We might as well accept their offer, besides it would be nice sleeping on a bed again, the ground really did a number on my back._ Nanoha remarked going from a serious to playfully tone of voice.

_Hmm. I guess it couldn't hurt._

"I don't know about them" Nanoha tilted her head toward the couple next to her "But, we accept your offer."

The man beamed at her "Wonderful."

He turned toward the couple "I can assume you're staying as well correct."

Trapped in the crowd's hopeful gaze the couple relented.

"I guess so" Gabrielle said unsurely, glancing at the stoic warrior beside her.

"Great" The mayor clapped his hands in delight. "I'm sure Linaus has rooms for you to stay."

The man Linaus nodded in their direction.

The town's people now pleased dispersed cleaning up the destruction the horseman and foot soldiers caused.

As they worked some town's people gossiped.

"You know we were really lucky they were here. I heard Lycurgus' men demolished a town not too far from here."

The man next to him shook his head in remembrance of the news.

"Yeah, I remember when word got here the poor town was demolished not a trace of it left. And that bastard warlord relentlessly killed anyone who stood in his way whether they be man, woman, or child." The man held a note of disgust as he told of the warlord's actions.

The other nodded at the sad fate of the town, grateful that the same hadn't happened to theirs. They went on salvaging what they could from the wreckage.

Meanwhile, the town's saviors were ushered into Linaus' Inn.

He placed them at a table, and went to order them their best dish.

Nanoha's family and the couple sat there in awkward silence.

It was Vivio's adorable little voice that broke the silence "Fate-mama? Nanoha-mama?"

Her words brought the attention of the whole table, Fate and Nanoha wondering what Vivio wanted, and the couple curious about their relationship.

"Yes, Vivio." Nanoha answered for the both of them.

Vivio had an embarrassed face as she said "I need to go to the restroom."

"Oh. Okay." She stood up with Vivio taking her hand.

She turned to the table's occupants, her voice pleasant "excuse us."

She then turned walking toward a barmaid, who gave her directions to the restroom.

Poor Fate was left to fend off the confused and questioning faces of the couple across from her.

Gabrielle spoke what was on both their minds "I thought she was Nanoha's child?"

Fate explained calmly "she is Nanoha's child. She just views me as her second mother and I view her as my daughter. So it works out, and Nanoha doesn't mind it either."

The confusion cleared from their eyes understanding dawning in its place.

"So, where were you guys headed before the raid?" Gabrielle asked to keep the conversation rolling.

"Nowhere in particular. We've just been following the road to where ever it leads."

Her green eyes alighted with pleasure happy to meet another kindred spirit.

"We do that too. Follow the road. Helping out people in need. Why there was a time Xena and I were traveling to Thremiscarea when…" Fate was dizzy from the woman's constant excited chatter. She never in her life met a woman, who could talk endlessly.

She talked of their adventures, which were about gods, warlords, and the occasional monster. Fate had a hard time believing them. They seemed too much like farfetched stories, plus from what Fate remembered from her Earthen school days with Nanoha there were no titans, Cyclops, or Gods in actual existence in Ancient Greece. They were only myths and legends, stories that the Greeks told. Although, if others knew about her life's story it would seem just as unbelievable.

While Gabrielle talked endlessly, her friend sat there a stone mask on her face completely unfazed by her friends drabble.

They were saved from further talk when Nanoha and Vivio returned from the restroom, the barmaid following behind them with their food.

______________________________________

The next morning, Gabrielle called them over to their table for breakfast. Nanoha and Fate shrugged and decided to follow along.

They just finished when Gabrielle spoke to them "Xena and I have been talking and we're wondering if you would like to travel together for a while. Since we both don't have any set destination it should be fun. What do you say?"

Gabrielle saw them seeming to contemplate what she just said.

_What do you think Fate-chan?_

_I guess we could go, who knows maybe something good will come out of this._ Remembering Gabrielle's fanciful stories. If the stories were true, then she was sure following them for a while might bring them to new information.

Nanoha spoke for them "Alright, we'll go."

Gabrielle beamed "great then shall we head out."

She looked to Xena, who nodded.

They walked out of the Inn and to a large palomino horse tied to the post. The horse pawed the ground and nudged its head into Xena's chest in greeting. Xena rubbed the side of the mare's neck pleased to see her as well. She then untied her from the post, and walked with everyone else, as Gabrielle was telling one of her stories again.

The taller blonde with red eyes walked over to her, "Is she always like that" she pointed to Gabrielle.

"hmm. She's a bard it's in her nature." Xena explained to Fate.

Fate couldn't help feeling that Xena's stoic and aloof behavior reminded her of Signum. Thinking of the pink haired knight caused her to smile. She missed sparing with her.

Xena caught the smile on the blonde's face, and wondered what she was thinking about, but didn't voice her curiosity. She just kept on walking a comfortable silence settling over them.

Fate's thoughts were interrupted by Nanoha's voice, _as interesting as her stories are, she just keeps on going where does she find time to breath._

Laughter like the ringing of bells entered Nanoha's mind, making her melt inside, _I hear she's a bard so that's her thing._

Vivio, on the other hand, was completely engrossed in the bard's story, her facial expressions moved and changed by the bard's eloquent words.

_________________________________

**Campsite, nighttime**

Vivio was sitting next to Nanoha bored. The camp was set, a nice fire was going, some nuts and berries lying off to the side of it, and now they were just waiting for Fate and Xena's catch.

She looked around the camp trying to find something, anything that would just relieve her from her boredom.

She spotted Gabrielle, not too far from the fire, resting her back against a tree a weird looking thing on her lap and a feather in her hand. Curious she got up and sat opposite her.

Sensing a new presence, Gabrielle looked up. Guilt and sadness coursed through her body, as she saw a blonde girl with one green and red eye looking at her curiously.

She remembered the surprise and shock she received when she saved the girl that looked so much like her deceased daughter they could have been mistaken for twins, if her other eye was green as well.

She mentally shook her head trying to rid herself of the depressing thoughts. "yes?"

Vivio's sweet and curious tone greeted her, "What are you doing?" she pointed to the things on Gabrielle's lap and hand.

Gabrielle explained, "I'm writing."

She then held up the feather, dipped it in ink, and wrote something on the blank scroll in her lap.

Vivio's eyes grew round, she wasn't used to seeing someone write with a feather. On Mid-Childa, all written communications were done on holographic screens, or if someone owned a device the device would transcribe their owners words, which could then be sent through Mid's virtual communication lines. On the occasional trip to Earth, she remembered people writing with a slender mechanical device, called a pen or pencil, but never did she see someone write with a feather.

Gabrielle was amused by the child's face it seemed like this was her first time seeing someone write. She wondered if the girl's mothers knew how, it wouldn't surprise her if they didn't. Not everyone in Greece knew, only the poets and scholars, and even then it was only the men. Very few women were lucky enough to learn about the literary arts.

"Would you like to try?" she gestured with her feather to the scroll.

Vivio nodded her head enthusiastically, excited about the idea of writing with a feather.

Smiling at the child's enthusiasm, she took out an extra feather and scroll from her bag, and handed them over to Vivio.

Vivio imitated what Gabrielle did a moment before, dipping the feather's point in the ink, then placing it on the smooth surface of the parchment on her lap.

Vivio was smiling from ear to ear, very amused by Mid-Childan letters slowly appearing on the parchment as she moved the feather to create the letters.

Seeing the child's obvious ability to write, Gabrielle wondered why the girl seemed so curious before. She figured it was because the girl did not write much, after all getting the supplies were expensive.

Gabrielle returned her attention back to her scroll now that the child was completely engrossed in her own.

_______________________

Fate and Xena were walking in silence their eyes and ears, open and listening, for any poor animals nearby.

Xena was pleased with her hunting companion, she was fast, accurate and knew how to be stealthy, her skills on par with her own. She wondered how it would be to spar with her.

She stopped and smiled when her hunting partner stopped at the same time she did.

They kept still as the rustling sound neared them. A rabbit jumped out in front of them.

Too quick for the eye to see, Fate threw her knife. The blade gleamed for a moment as it reflected the moonlight, before it soon found the rabbit's body.

Xena now stared at the fallen rabbit, who was alive a second before. The blonde had beaten her to the punch.

Fate walked over to the large rabbit, and kneeled down removing the blade from its dead body.

In her crouched position, she skinned and cut its body to pieces making it unrecognizable. She did this for Vivio's sake because she knew no amount of persuading could make her eat a cute and cuddly rabbit. The poor girl would be devastated if she knew, this way she would be completely ignorant and much happier. Finished with her work, she placed the meat in a small pouch Xena gave her earlier, and then stood up.

Xena caught and prepared her catch, which was an unlucky bird that happened to fly past, when Fate approached her.

"Would you mind cutting it up so it doesn't look like a bird? I don't want Vivio to be upset." Fate's soft voice said.

Xena had to smile at Fate's concern. She made a good mother unlike her. She quickly brought down the depressing thoughts and looked at Fate, her face not showing any of the emotional torment she felt earlier.

"Sure."

Now that she had her compliance, Fate felt relieved.

Xena heard soft footsteps drift away from her.

*******************

"I'm back" Fate said as she walked into camp.

She was greeted by Nanoha's "welcome back"

Gabrielle looked up looking for her friend, "Is Xena with you?"

Fate shook her head "she's preparing her catch. She should be here soon."

Satisfied, Gabrielle returned to her scroll to write the finishing touches before she would help Nanoha cook their meal.

Vivio looked at her finished work on the scroll. It had a detailed, as a 10 year old can get, drawing of her mothers and her in their current outfits with some Mid-Childan writing saying: Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, Vivio, and a story she wrote under the drawing about how much they all loved each other.

Pleased with her work she stood up, to show it to both her mothers.

Fate looked at it first Nanoha currently busy making dinner with Gabrielle.

Fate turned her attention to the scroll her daughter gave her. On it she saw Vivio's drawing of them all holding hands together, with her in between her mothers. In response to the drawing, she ruffled Vivio's hair, making her smile in delight of her mother's attention.

She then continued on to read the story. Her face turned red at some of things she had written. Other parts of the story made her feel all warm and fuzzy. When she finished reading, her heart was so full of love it was practically bursting.

She immediately brought Vivio into a hug, the others in the camp not missing the warm moment between mother and daughter.

_How was it? _Nanoha asked curious at what Vivio wrote to cause such a strong response from Fate.

_Your daughter has quite the imagination, but it was very nice to read. If you want to know more you'll just have to read it._ Her tone was warm and affectionate, yet playful as she telepathically conversed with Nanoha.

After their meal, they were sitting around the fire, Vivio lying asleep on their one large blanket that was as close as possible to the fire without being in danger.

Meanwhile, the adults sat in silence only the clapping sound of a rock hitting steel and a feather scratching on parchment filling the air.

Unable to stand the silence any longer Nanoha spoke to Gabrielle, something she said earlier that day poking at her mind "in your stories you said you met the god of war and love, is that true?"

Fate's ears perked up at Nanoha's interesting question, she wondered what the bard would say.

Gabrielle looked up from her scroll her gaze landing on Nanoha "Yes. It's true."

"You mean that they actually exist. I always thought that they were just stories" Nanoha said skeptically.

Gabrielle sighed this wasn't the first time she heard those words "I know it's hard to believe, but yes they do exist."

Nanoha and Fate mulled over this new information

_Fate-chan, if these gods really do exist maybe they can help us go back home._

_It's a possibility, but that's only if they're willing to help us out. According to Gabrielle's stories their selfish beings, who enjoy playing around with people._

_Hmm. But it couldn't hurt to ask._

_No. It couldn't._

Nanoha questioned Gabrielle again "okay, presuming that their real. How could I ask the gods for a favor?"

Xena's voice commented in anger and disgust "You would never want to ask those bastards a favor. Nothing good comes of it."

Gabrielle looked at her and more pleasantly said "You must excuse her, after dealing with the gods we're not as fond of them as other people are. But, back to your question, usually an offering at their temple might get their attention. It's really up to them whether they want to appear in front of you or not."

Nanoha thought it over, it made sense back in Japan during the festivals or prayers she would offer a token at the shrine. She wondered what type of offerings the gods here accepted "What kind of offering?"

Gabrielle thought a moment about all the temples and shrines she'd been to and the kind of offerings that were presented, "it could be anything. Some things I remember people giving were jewels, food, some blood."

The last one didn't sound pleasant, but at least now she had an idea.

Gabrielle than questioned her "why do you want the gods favor anyway?"

Nanoha didn't know what to say to that, but Fate saved her by answering the question instead "It's just a personal matter, nothing big. We're more interested in meeting them in person to prove the stories true."

_Nice save._

_Hmm, thanks._

Gabrielle sighed not surprised by the answer at all. She'd met others like them, who also sought for the gods attention. "There really not that great to meet you know."

"hmm. You say that because you've met them. We'd like to meet them too, and form our own opinion." Fate said.

Xena grumbled "those bastards aren't worth the trouble."

With the conversation at an end, Fate yawned "I'm going to sleep. Coming Nanoha?"

"hmm"

Nanoha and Fate took off their sandals and went to sleep on either side of Vivio. Good nights were heard around the camp as the other couple went to sleep as well.

As they lay on the blankets, Nanoha and Fate mentally formulated a plan of action.

_So we know the gods exist their reactions were too strong for them not to, plus their feelings are the complete opposite of worshipers._ Fate said.

N: _Yeah, they had really strong feelings about them. The other thing we know is that we could offer practically anything. So, which god do we ask for help?_

F: _Well, if the gods of love and war exist, is it safe to say the others we've learned about in school exist too?_

N: _I don't know. Reasonably speaking if one god from a group of known gods exists that means the rest of the group should exists too._

F:_ If that's the case, I would ask for Athena's help since she is suppose to be the goddess of wisdom._

N: _hmm wisdom's pretty good. But, if it turns out that only love and war exists, I'd pick love._

F: _those two are a bit hard to choose from. If we follow the stories neither is a good choice because the goddess of love can't control her power properly, and the god of war can't be trusted. So, between those two…I think… I'd go with…love._

N: _so then, we should search for wisdom and love temples right?_

F: _right._

_Alright, I'm going to sleep. Night Fate._ Nanoha said sweetly.

_Night._ Came Fate's tender reply.

________________________

Eyelids fluttered open revealing blue eyes that stared at the blue-grey color of the dawn sky. Nanoha had to admit it was comforting waking up to the sky, and not a ceiling. Her gaze shifted seeing two relaxed and angelic faces of her family.

She carefully lifted her side of the blanket while preventing the morning chill from waking the others under the blanket.

She rose to her feet her gaze meeting another early morning riser.

Xena was brushing her horse when she saw Nanoha walk over.

"Morning" The brunette greeted.

"Morning" a low voice said as she continued brushing.

After the customary greeting, the camp went silent, Xena continuing to brush her horse and Nanoha sitting against a tree seemingly staring into empty space.

_Raging Heart._

_Yes, Master._

_It's been a long time since we've used it, but can you still set shooting range simulation training. _

_Stand by ready. Shooting range training set up._

Even though Nanoha was in another dimension she didn't want her skills to get rusty from disuse. She wouldn't be able to call herself a combat instructor if her students training had to suffer because of her own lack of training. So, she used the mental simulation training from her younger days on Earth to keep her skills in shape. She went through a few rounds, and a couple different simulations working up a bit of a sweat before she closed down the program.

Her training lasted around 30 minutes, and the others were still sleeping. She turned her attention to Xena, who had just finished brushing her horse and was now inspecting her weapons. She walked over and sat opposite her.

Xena didn't pause in her ministrations despite the new presence.

"Can I ask you something?" Nanoha inquired

"you just did. But go ahead." Xena said flatly.

"would you help us get a gods attention?" Xena paused what she was doing after her mind processed the words, then continued.

"No" She said with finality.

Nanoha sighed "Fine. Then where are the nearest temples to Athena and Aphrodite?"

"Why just those two?" Xena said genuinely curious.

"They seem the most interesting."

Xena placed her weapons down, then regarded Nanoha seriously "Athens."

Nanoha nodded, "what's the quickest way to get there from here?"

Xena sighed "The quickest way would be to go through Centaur and Amazon land. From there you take the main road straight down to Athens."

Nanoha looked a bit confused "how do we get to Centaur and Amazon land?"

Xena shook her head, she couldn't believe what she was about to say "I'll take you till the main road the rest of the way you're on your own."

Nanoha smiled gratefully "Thank-you"

"hmm"

Gabrielle woke up by the end of their conversation. She yawned and stretched then finally stood up.

"Good morning." She greeted both Xena and Nanoha.

"Morning" they both said.

"heh, for once I am not the last one up." Gabrielle said jokingly, as she caught sight of the other two slumbering blonds.

Nanoha chuckled she knew Fate and Vivio wouldn't be awake for another hour, or until breakfast was ready.

Eventually, all the camp occupants were awake. They ate breakfast, and then cleaned up camp beginning their journey to Athens.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for reading and the reviews.

To chkim218: I let my story answer your question. So keep reading :)

My little ramble: Here's the long awaited chapter. I had finals to get through and I got side tracked with Feline Frenzy my newest and first completed story :) I also finished up with chapter 10, and am currently stuck in chp. 11 -sigh-

Anyway enjoy this nice long chapter.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chp. 5 Centaurs and Amazons

On the road

F: _So Xena's going to take us part of the way to Athens._ a soft voice said.

N: _Yeah, she didn't want to at first. But, she caved and is now taking us._

F: _Hmm. So what should we offer?_

N: _How about a token like we did back in Japan._

F: _Okay, sounds good._

Gabrielle whispered to Xena, who was walking beside her, "there doing it again."

"What?"

"Staring at one another."

Xena shrugged her shoulders "So. Maybe they like each other."

Gabrielle thought about it "Maybe. But it seems more like some type of eye communication."

"Gab-ri-elle." Xena drawled out her name.

Gabrielle faced her curious as to what she would say.

"Don't let that bardly imagination of yours carry you away." Xena said in her usual low voice with a teasing undertone.

Gabrielle stuck her tongue out at her. "Meanie."

Suddenly, unwelcomed guests jumped out of the side of the road and faced the group with swords drawn.

Gabrielle shook her head pitying what would become of the bandits.

The men leered and licked their lips their leader grabbing their attention "we've got ourselves a pretty catch today boys."

Nanoha and Fate placed themselves in front of Vivio eyeing the men wearily as they talked. If they were looking for trouble, they definitely found it.

Gabrielle leaned against her staff casually, "you know if I were you I'd leave before you all find yourself on the ground."

The men broke out in laughter.

Then one with a perverted smirk droll out "you can do me any time, baby" as he thrust his hips forward.

The others laughed even harder at their companion's antics.

Gabrielle's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Alright enough!" The leader yelled getting his gang back in gear.

He then spoke to the women "now where were we" as he put a finger to his chin in pretend thought "ah yes. Give us your valuables, and you may pass."

"Unfortunately for you we have nothing of value." Gabrielle said.

The leader waved her off "What you talking about!" He then pointed to all the things he saw of value "That horse is quite fine. That ruby looks good. And that golden triangle is more than valuable."

Nanoha and Fate fumed on the inside at the man's audacity, but there outward appearance was calm and collected not showing any hint of their anger.

Xena cracked her knuckles "you know. No one talks about my horse and lives. If you're going to fight put your sword where your mouth is because I've had enough of your talk."

"Oh. Look the pretty lady wants to kill me, boys." The men snorted.

One of them said "go get her boss."

"yeah, teach her a lesson!" Another said, raising a fist in the air.

The leader raised his hand stopping any further comment

"Before we fight. I really must get your name?" He said as he looked at the dark haired warrior.

"Xena."

His men's faces paled their smiles leaving them. They began to whisper amongst themselves about her famed deeds. They then stepped away from their leader in fear. Their leader saw this.

"Oh! Come on! Are you chickening out because of a girl!"

A man pointed fearfully at Xena "but, b-boss that's X-X-Xena. The W-Warrior Pr-Princess. D-Destroyer of Nations."

Nanoha and Fate were amused by the men's behavior, they were practically sniveling little boys scared by titles.

"No. No. No. No. She can't be that Xena." The leader turned an inquiring face at Xena "Are you?"

She raised her chakram "I don't know care to test it out."

The man's eyes grew round with fear as they saw the circular weapon "Boss! That's the round disc of doom only Xena uses it."

The men realizing that the woman before them was indeed Xena turned around and ran leaving their boss to fend for himself.

The now ex-leader turned quizzically to the group of women "on second thought I'll be going. You have a nice day." He then quickly turned and took off leaving a cloud of dust.

After the dust settled, everyone besides Xena broke out in uncontrollable laughter.

Nanoha wiped tears of laughter from her eyes "Ah that was priceless. They were so scared of a name they took off."

Fate's soft voice filled with mirth threw out a comment "I remember something like that happening to you too Nanoha."

She looked at her curiously "When? I don't remember anyone running at the sound of my name."

Gabrielle's ears perked up eager to hear new information about their traveling companions, which now that she thought about it were complete strangers. She didn't know much about them apart from their names.

"You should. You told me the story. Remember about that student you had a year ago, who was so shocked he had the White Devil for an instructor that he ran out of class balling on his first day."

Nanoha's face dawned in realization then frowned "you know it's all Vita's fault I have that accursed name. Seriously, I am not that bad. Am I?"

Fate's eyes gleamed with mischief she could finally get Nanoha back after tormenting her back in Mycene (the toga incident) "I don't know… Subaru and Teana once said your training was like the road to Hell."

Nanoha's eyes sadden. When Fate saw them she wanted to apologize and tell her she was joking.

But, Nanoha spoke first her tone defensive "I was only hard on them because I knew they could handle it. Unlike someone else I know."

"What's that suppose to mean." Fate said flatly.

"Oh. I don't know. Do the words Death's Servant ring a bell." Nanoha shook her head as if disappointed.

Fate spluttered "What! I got that stupid name when I fought off hundreds of giant ants."

Nanoha pointed a shaking finger at Fate "No, no, no. I remember during our training days someone said you were cold and ruthless in battle, and gave you the title Death's Servant."

Fate fumed now she remembered when she first heard those dreadful words. She got the title after demolishing the group that had attacked Nanoha on that cold snowy day. She completely forgot about the memory and now Nanoha just had to bring it up.

Nanoha saw Fate's eyes darken in anger and sadness. She immediately regretted what she said, but at the time she said them she was hurt and wanted to get Fate back.

Fate turned her back to Nanoha and started walking ahead. She didn't want Nanoha to see the torment of the emotions of that day: fear, anger, frustration, sadness, and many other morbid feelings swirling inside her just as fresh as they were all those years ago. She needed to calm herself down before she could face her again. So, she did the only thing she knew that could help. She ran.

"Wait! Fate! I'm sorry!" Seeing Fate's retreating back, Nanoha called and ran after her friend leaving Vivio with Gabrielle and Xena, who were both surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Fate didn't turn back or even acknowledge her she just kept running, getting further and further away from her.

Nanoha couldn't keep up with her. She felt the distance between them growing both physically and what seemed emotionally. She caused Fate's hurt, and now she was running away from her becoming ever smaller until she was out of sight. She felt tears welling in her eyes. She hated this, and she hated herself more for causing this fight between them over a silly thing like names. She wiped her tears and headed back to her awaiting daughter and couple.

She saw her daughter's worried gaze "where did Fate-mama go?"

She knelt down to her level "Fate-mama wanted to be alone for a bit, but she'll be back soon, Vivio. Okay?"

Vivio nodded her head in understanding, hoping her blonde mother will return soon.

"Will you two be alright?" She heard a concerned voice and stood up facing Gabrielle.

She plastered on a fake smile "yeah. Fate-chan will be back soon."

Gabrielle wanted to find out more about what was said earlier, but held her tongue. Now was not the time or place to be talking about ones past when they were currently upset.

**************

She had been running blindly for a while, now much calmer than before, when Bardiche finally grabbed her attention.

"Sir."

"Yes Bardiche." she said as she slowly came to a stop. Now that she was more aware of her surroundings she noticed that it was sunset, when she left Nanoha it had been daytime. She covered a lot of ground and ran a good couple of hours.

"Signal detection from Raging Heart shows we are 25 miles away. Sir."

"I've been real stupid, huh Bardiche." She said tiredly as she looked at her device.

"Yes. Sir."

Fate sighed.

She shouldn't have run out on Nanoha like that, but at the time it seemed like the only thing she could do, and even if what she did was wrong she knew she would have done the same thing over again given the chance.

"Let's go back, Bardiche."

"Yes. Sir."

She ran back to Nanoha.

**************

Nanoha held a brave face in front of the others, but she was getting worried, _it's sunset and she's still not back. Why aren't you back yet Fate-chan? Was our fight really so bad that you can't come back._

They soon made camp at a pond with a waterfall, but she couldn't enjoy its beauty without Fate being beside her.

________________

**Campsite, Nighttime**

The fire was blazing, the camp was set, Xena was out hunting, and Nanoha was fuming. She really had enough waiting, but she couldn't just leave Vivio again. She wanted Fate back now just so she could hit her upside the head for all the aggravation she was causing her, but most of all she wanted to hug her until she couldn't breathe.

Nanoha sighed for the umpteenth time that day, since the argument, her wishful thinking not helping at all. She lay back and looked at the only thing that could calm her, besides Fate, the sky. She lay their gazing at the stars until she was drowsy. In her drowsiness she heard rustling footsteps. She didn't bother sitting up thinking it was just Xena returning from her hunt.

Still staring at the sky, her view was suddenly filled by a bunch of colored flowers. A face that held warm and gentle red eyes with an apologetic smile looked down at her. Her eyes started to mist over as she recognized her. Her body jumped up, and she buried her face in a warm chest and neck. Firm yet gentle arms encircled her waist as whispered words were spoken near her ear.

"I'm sorry. Nanoha."

"I'm sorry too. Fate" Nanoha didn't bother looking up at her or move out of her embrace, she felt way too comfortable to ever want to leave her arms. They stood like that for a long while before they finally broke apart feeling much better now that they made up.

While Fate and Nanoha were in their own little world Gabrielle was cooking the dinner that Xena brought back. The two were feeling happy that the couple made up. Gabrielle went to sit beside Xena.

Her eyes were lovey-dovey when she spoke "aren't they cute."

"hmm."

"It was really romantic of Fate to bring flowers as part of an apology"

"hmm"

"why don't you bring me flowers after we fight?"

"hmm."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"hmm"

Gabrielle sighed, the warrior wasn't a romantic at all.

__________________________

Xena said they would reach Centaur land by mid-day, but now everyone was bored.

Trying to relieve the boredom Gabrielle suggested a game to play "How about we play 20 questions."

She hoped they said yes. Now would be the perfect opportunity to gleam more information on their traveling companions.

"I'm not really in the mood" Nanoha said, her hand holding on to Fate's. Ever since yesterday when Fate returned to her, they just couldn't stay out of contact for more than a couple of seconds.

"Come on. It will be fun, better than doing nothing." Gabrielle tried to convince her.

"Alright, we'll play, but if we choose not to answer. We won't." Nanoha stated her rule for the game.

"Fair enough. I'll ask you two a question, and you guys can ask us a question. Okay?" They both nodded.

"Great. Then my first question is…" She thought for a moment "What's your favorite color?"

She figured she'll go easy on them the first round- loosening them up before she got to the harder questions.

"White and blue"

"black and yellow"

_Well, that was a dumb question. Even I could of said that just going by the color of their clothes._ Her attention was drawn back into the game, as Nanoha asked her question.

"aren't you cold?"

Gabrielle's face showed confusion, what was that suppose to mean, "Care to elaborate."

"well, your green top doesn't cover much. I mean your stomach and back are exposed to the air, I was just wondering if you felt like it was too drafty."

_Oh. So that's what she meant_. She then contemplated the question "not really. At first it was, but now I'm used to it. So no I'm not cold. Where is the nicest place you have ever been to?"

Fate and Nanoha had to think about their answer without revealing where they were from.

"The beach" Fate answered

Before Gabrielle could ask for something more specific, Nanoha fired her question.

"What's that weapon near your hip?" She directed her question to Xena.

"My chakram." Her answer didn't really clarify anything, but she couldn't ask another question yet, she would have to wait for their next turn.

"speaking about weapons, for travelers I didn't see any on you. How do you defend yourself against highwaymen like the ones before?" Gabrielle looked curiously at them.

"we're both pretty good at hand to hand combat, so even if they have weapons, we're still able to defend ourselves" Fate replied.

Now that it was their turn again, Nanoha asked the question on her mind earlier, "Can you demonstrate how you use your chakram?"

Xena grabbed the chakram at her hip and flung it into the air. It went straight for a tree on the side of the road, bounced of it, hit the tree opposite the first, and returned toward Xena, who caught it in mid air.

Nanoha was intrigued by the weapon it was like a frisbee shaped boomer-rang.

After seeing Xena's demonstration of the weapon, Fate wondered how it faired in actual combat.

"how did you two meet?"

Nanoha thought about how she should answer that question when Fate's soft voice filled the air, "We were 9 years old, when Nanoha relentlessly pursued a friendship with me while I pushed her away. Eventually, I stopped pushing and caved in to her demands-" Fate's soft gaze with another emotion Nanoha couldn't read looked at her as she continued to speak "that day was the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Warmth surged through her, she felt like she could kiss her, but settled for a hug.

The others saw the affection between them and thought that they made a pretty good couple.

Nanoha pulled back from their embrace, and glanced in their direction deciding to throw back the same question, "so how did you two meet?"

Gabrielle's eyes became excited as she went into story telling mode "I was with some of the other girl's back in Potidaea, my hometown, gathering supplies… When all of a sudden, a bunch of men dressed in black, and swords pointed toward us jumped out from the trees. It was at this time that Xena came, dressed only in a white shift, sword and chakram blazing around in a flurry of motion knocking out some men, while others ran for their lives." Gabrielle put down her hands that acted out the story, calmly saying "and that's how we met. Xena saving me and the other girls from those men, and I so intrigued by her left my village and followed Xena until she accepted me. We then ended up traveling the world together."

Xena shook her head, Gabrielle always tried making her look like a hero when she was not. The truth is that she was the hero, her hero. She was the light in her darkness, and she wouldn't be the person she was today without her guidance.

"Yesterday I heard you two saying White Devil and Death's Servent how did you earn those titles?"

Nanoha and Fate stiffened in reminder of yesterday's argument.

_You know we don't have to answer. _Nanoha's comforting voice floated in Fate's head.

_I know._ Came the soft reply.

After a long while of silence Fate's subdued voice spoke as her eyes glazed over, seeing the most dreadful moment in her life over again, "Nanoha was wounded badly by an underground organization. " She felt Nanoha's hand squeeze her own, gently supporting her.

This would be the first time in years Nanoha would hear Fate's side of the story. All she knew when she first woke up at the hospital was that Fate had gone after her assailants, and when she got back her eyes looked almost dead as she told her she took care of them. Since then they never brought up the incident, at first it was because they each had their own healing to do, then their lives became just too busy that they eventually forgot about it all together.

"I was on a mission with my teammates to go after the group. We found them, and all I saw as I looked at them was Nanoha's wounded body. I wasn't even thinking as I attacked them. When I finally became aware of my surroundings my teammates avoided me, and started calling me Death's Servent."

There was a heavy silence in the air, even though they didn't know the details they could all hear the pain and sadness in Fate's voice. Nanoha felt guility and upset at the emotions Fate still felt. She hadn't even realized how much of an impact she had on her.

Fate felt a warm body embrace her, shaking her out of her memories. She looked down at Nanoha's brown hair and brought a hand up running it through her soft tresses. She really loved her. She was her most precious treasure. She would go through Hell and back just for her that's why when she saw her wounded and unmoving body she felt utterly afraid of losing her. It was a similar to the feeling she had when she lost her mother only ten times worse, she felt like she was suffocating to death.

When she next looked up red eyes met the blue of the warrior a top her horse. She gave her a sympathetic and understanding look almost like she knew and experienced what she had.

They stopped playing the game the mood to somber to continue.

_______________________

"Greetings Xena, Gabrielle. I see new faces among you. Friends of yours?" A large half horse, half man said as he shook Xena's hand.

"No Xanthius. I'm just helping them get to Athens."

To the Centaur's surprise, he saw calm and friendly faces from Nanoha's family. Most people feared centaurs because of their appearance and strength, which was just too different from a human's.

When Vivio saw the Centaur she wondered how it would be to ride atop his back. The thought brought images of Zafira allowing her to ride on him. She almost giggled. He always had a look of consternation and grumbled about how he was a Guardian Beast not a horse when she rode his back.

"My name's Xanthius. I will escort you through our village as you pass through our lands." He said toward Nanoha and her family.

"Thank you Xanthius. I'm Nanoha, and beside me is Fate and Vivio" She said as she pulled Vivio a bit forward.

Vivio waved to the Centaur, who gave her a smile and waved back. She couldn't keep down the urge anymore. She smiled sweetly and gave him the cutest eyes that the great Zafira could never refuse as she said "Can I ride on your back?"

"Vivio" Nanoha scolded. "that's rude."

Vivio's head dropped in dismay at her mother's scolding.

Seeing the child go from cute eagerness to upset, the Centaur just didn't have the heart to refuse her. "That's quite alright. I wouldn't mind her on my back."

Vivio's head immediately lifted. Her eyes shining in unrepressed delight "really you'll let me?!"

Everyone smiled at the cute display there was no way anyone could refuse her.

"Yes, really." He knelt down to allow the child to get on his back. Once he felt her in place he stood up her arms hugging his waist so she wouldn't fall off.

Vivio looked around from her new vantage point "Wow, now I am even taller than Fate-mama and Nanoha-mama."

She waved to them, and they waved back.

Nanoha spoke to the centaur "Is it really okay that she's on your back."

He nodded "it's no trouble at all. The children back in the village are like this too, so I am used to it."

Placated, Nanoha walked together with Fate as their daughter enjoyed her time on the centaur.

As they passed through the village, they saw more centaurs, some men, and boys playing with wooden swords on the streets, but oddly enough no women or girls. It was a male only village.

At a clearing with a forest boundary, the Centaur knelt back down letting Vivio hop off his back. He then stood up "good traveling strangers. See you soon Xena, Gabrielle." He said before he turned and trotted off.

Vivio looked up at her parents her face excited "that was so much fun!"

They all smiled truly enjoying the child's delight.

____________________

It was now late evening when they entered the forest, Xena leading and guiding them through the maze of trees.

They soon saw a couple of skulls as warning signs.

Nanoha and Fate were aware of eyes following them for a while now when Xena suddenly stopped.

"clasp your hands above your head, and don't move." She told them.

They followed her instructions, and not that much later, a bunch of scantily dressed womanly figures with bird masks fell from the trees.

With a clear view of who the trespassers were, the amazons took of their masks revealing feminine faces and knelt to the ground head down as they said "Hail, Queen Gabrielle"

Nanoha and Fate looked to the blonde surprised, thinking _we were traveling with a queen_.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle rolled her eyes at her Amazon's behavior, "You know I've told you guys a thousand times before you don't have to kneel in front of me."

A teasing voice from the back walked toward them "It would be high treason if they didn't kneel in front of you Queen Gabrielle."

"Epinon!" Gabrielle said as she ran to hug the weapon's master, who first taught her how to use the staff she wielded.

"Xena I trust your doing well." She said when Gabrielle released her.

"hmm."

The weapon's master than eyed Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio, "I am Epinon, Weapon's master of the village."

"Nanoha" was said politely.

"Fate" was said softly.

"Vivio" was said cutely.

"Welcome to Amazon Land, Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio." She then turned to the women behind her "Tell, Regent Ephiny that the Queen has returned with some guests." The tall woman made a fist close to her heart in salute, and then ran off to do as instructed.

"The rest of you back to patrol." As soon as it was said the remaining women jumped off the ground grabbed the nearest branch and scaled the trees until they were out of sight.

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio followed the motion with their eyes.

N: _I can't believe they jumped 5 feet off the ground without a running start._

F: _Hmm. That was pretty amazing for a non-mage._

"Come, I'm sure Ephiny has already started the festival celebrating your return." Epinon said to Gabrielle.

She groaned. "You guys would take any excuse just to party."

The weapon's master grinned "of course. We wouldn't live up to our name as, notorious party goers if we didn't."

Indeed by the time the group made it to the Amazon village a party was going. Some women dressed in nothing more than leather straps and feathers to cover the essentials as they danced around a large bon fire, drums and flutes beating out a tribal rhythm.

N: _Wha, she wasn't kidding about the party. If Hayate was here she would be having a blast._

F: _No, if Hayate was here she would force us into those outfits._

Nanoha's face paled _your right she would._

They both shivered at the thought.

Gabrielle turned to Xena "I'll see you soon. I need to go see Ephiny."

The warrior nodded as she watched her friend walk with the weapon's master to the regent's hut.

"Where is she going?" Xena turned to see red eyes.

"To do her queenly duties."

"How did she become Queen of the Amazons, I thought she was from Potidaea?"

"She tried to save a dying Amazon Princess, who gave Gabrielle her right of cast, which made Gabrielle Amazon royalty." Xena informed.

Some teenaged Amazons approached them "Hey! Xena. Will you be joining us in tomorrow's festivities?"

"How long do these Amazons party?" Fate whispered a bit incredulous.

"Sometimes for days" Xena whispered back.

In answer to the amazon's question she said "I don't think I will."

"Come on! Xena. It will be lots of fun. All the best warriors in the village will be participating in the game's tomorrow in celebration of Artemis."

Xena inwardly cursed. She completely forgot that now was a special weeklong festival for the amazons. She wouldn't be able to leave the village for at least 1-2 days.

Fate sensed irritation coming off from the warrior beside her even though she didn't express it.

"Is something wrong?"

"hmm. We won't be able to leave the village for 1-2 days"

Fate tried putting her at ease "that's okay, we'll eventually reach Athens. So there is no need to rush."

Not getting any reaction from Xena, the amazons turned their attention to something more interesting.

"Hey Talia, doesn't she remind you of Lidea." An Amazon with black hair and brown eyes said as she pointed to Vivio.

Talia the girl next to her with messily cut brown hair and green eyes bent down to look at Vivio, who backed up into Nanoha's legs not liking the intense look the Amazon gave her "Hey! Your right Lily, her eyes are the same only green and red, instead of blue and brown."

There it was again, her eyes giving her unnecessary attention.

The Amazon then spoke to her in excitement "you must be blessed by Artemis as well, what's your name?"

Vivio looked confused, _who is Artemis?_

She answered the girl "Vivio"

"Well, it's nice to meet you Vivio. My name's Talia, that's Lily, and the one with the short blond hair is Rhea."

She looked to Nanoha, who was happy her daughter was receiving a good form of attention. "Can we borrow her for a bit? We'd like to show Vivio to our friend Lidea, who'd love to meet another person with different colored eyes."

"It's not up to me. You have to ask Vivio if she would like to go." The girl's bubbly nature reminded Nanoha of Subaru.

Talia looked back to Vivio, "Would you like to come with us Vivio?"

Vivio thought about it, _it would be cool to meet another person like me._

Making up her mind, Vivio voiced her answer "okay I'll go"

"Great" Talia took Vivio's hand before they walked off to meet Lidea.

_It's nice that Vivio's making friends_ Nanoha thought.

Suddenly, the drums stopped pounding and everyone turned their attention to the dais where a curly blonde haired person stood, and behind her stood another person wearing a bird mask with many colorful feathers.

"Amazons! After many days our queen has returned to us just in time for our celebration of Artemis. I give you Queen Gabrielle!" The drums started pounding again as the amazons gave a thunderous roar happy to have their queen back.

Nanoha and Fate were almost overwhelmed by all the commotion.

Gabrielle put up her hands, the commotion stopped "Amazons!" She yelled under the mask. "Let the celebration begin!"

The amazons yelled ecstatic to be partying, the drums and flutes went back to their tribal tune, and the dancers danced around the bonfire, as others drank till they were drunk.

Finished with their announcements, Gabrielle and Ephiny walked off the platform.

They walked over to where Xena, Nanoha, and Fate stood.

"Ephiny it's good to see you"

"Likewise Xena " she turned her gaze toward Nanoha and Fate "you must be the guest, we're honored to have you."

"Thank you. I'm Nanoha, and this is Fate"

"It is nice to meet you, I am Ephiny Amazon Regent. I heard from Gabrielle that you were traveling to Athens, would you be staying here a couple of days?"

Fate answered "yes"

Nanoha looked at Fate curiously _What? Why?_

_Xena said she wouldn't be able to leave for at least 1-2 days_

"Then will you be joining us in tomorrow's festivities, even though you're not Amazons all women are allowed to participate."

Nanoha curious said "what will be happening tomorrow?"

"We will be holding a bunch of contests, a tournament, and a ceremony to bless the hunters in their hunt. Our contests will be for: Archery, tree racing, where amazons run through trees, a traditional race around the village, a scavenger hunt for the children and some adult participants, dance and music, and knife throwing."

Ephiny saw them think over what she said.

_Did something catch your interest Nanoha?_

_Yeah, Archery. Being a contract mage for the TSAB, I never got the chance to sign up for the Archery club in high school. Now could be the perfect time._

_So I take it you'll be participating_

_Yeah. If we're going to be here anyway, why not... What will you sign up for Fate-chan?_

_Probably the tournament._

_Okay then I'll cheer you on from the sidelines, so don't lose._ Nanoha said the last part playfully.

_I'm sure I won't with your support._

Nanoha answered "how do we sign up?"

"Hold on I'll go get Epinon and she'll register you." Ephiny left seeking out the weapon's master.

"you guys are pretty brave to be competing against amazons" Gabrielle commented.

"Why do you say that?" Nanoha inquired.

"Because the contests are designed to test an Amazon's skill, and they have been trained to hone them practically since the day they could walk."

"We're just doing this for fun not to win" Nanoha informed her.

Ephiny and Epinon soon arrived with some parchment.

They all went to a nearby table.

"so your joining us tomorrow." Nanoha and Fate both nodded "Okay so what would you like to do?" Epinon said as she opened a large scroll filled with names.

Nanoha spoke first "I'd like to try archery." Epinon nodded rolling the scroll down till she reached the archery section. She then took a feather and added Nanoha's name to the list.

She looked up when she was done "and you?" she asked in Fate's direction.

"I'd like to enter the tournament."

Epinon looked a bit surprised she didn't at all look like a warrior, how could she survive against the amazon's best. "Are you sure? All of our best amazon warriors are participating in it."

"Yes I'm sure." Fate said confidently.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." She picked up her second scroll and added Fate's name to the list.

As this was going on Xena was thinking about joining the tournament now that Fate was going to be there. She was impressed by Fate's fighting in Mycene and her hunting skill as well. She figured she could finally test the blonde's skill in a match.

"Hey, Epinon sign me up too." She nodded and added Xena's name after Fate's.

She commented in Xena's direction "There goes the suspense, Xena's sure to win this year."

"It ain't over till it's over Epinon. You don't know, who will win."

"nah, with your legendary skill the tournament's winner is already decided."

If Xena wasn't stoic she would have sighed.

_______________

Meanwhile, Vivio was taking in the sights of the amazon village, while walking with Talia and her group to meet this Lidea person. The village itself was similar to the others she'd seen so far, only that there were women everywhere, and no men. She even saw a couple of women kissing every now and then.

"So Vivio is this your first time here?" Vivio looked up at Talia.

"Yeah"

"the two people behind you were your mothers right?" Lily asked

"Yeah"

The girls sighed dreamily then Rhea spoke "wow, that's so nice. I want to meet my special someone too."

"Yeah, I know what you mean Rhea" Talia said.

Vivio didn't understand what they were talking about but didn't bother to ask since she was not interested.

"So what's your mothers names?" Lily asked again

"Fate-mama, and Nanoha-mama" they all oued and awed at her cuteness.

"you know if I ever have a child I want her to be like you. Your just so cute." Rhea cooed bouncing in her step.

They stopped in front of a hut. Lily went and pounded on the door until it opened.

The door flung open revealing a frustrated black haired, heterochromic eyed woman "What!" When Lidea's gaze landed on Lily she was even more annoyed.

"Lily! You always do this! Don't you have any patience!" her tone gradually increased in volume as she spoke.

"No." was Lily's flat out response, which caused Lidea to almost go berserker if it wasn't for Talia's timely intervention.

"You know for a priestess in training you're not calm at all." Talia said.

"That's not my fault. It's this" she pointed to Lily "pig's brain's fault"

"Yeah, yeah. Cool it for a bit we brought someone over who you'd like to meet." Rhea said before Lily could retaliate.

"who?"

Rhea stepped out of the way revealing Vivio.

"you came to show me a kid?" Lidea said impatiently.

"Not just any kid. Come here and take a good look at her, bring the oil lamp." Talia said.

Lidea decided to follow along otherwise they wouldn't leave her alone.

She brought the lamp and looked at Vivio, to her surprise one red and green eye looked back at her.

"Hey! Your eyes are different too!" She said really excited. This was the first time she saw another person with different colored eyes.

Vivio was also surprised and happy to see that the girl's eyes in front of her were just like her own, only blue and brown.

"What's your name?!" Lidea gushed.

"Vivio"

"It's nice to meet you Vivio. I'm Lidea, priestess in training, were you too blessed by Artemis?"

There was that name again. She didn't know any Artemis, but answered the question in a way that would make her Fate-mama proud "I don't know. I was just born like this."

"Yeah me too, but the priestess said I was blessed by Artemis, so I decided to train as a priestess. By Artemis this is so cool!"

They then talked a bit about how people treated them when they first saw them, and moved on to other things like, likes and dislikes, hobbies they had, etc. They were able to find an understanding with each other that they hadn't with anyone else.

________________

**Next Morning**

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio were eating breakfast at the amazon mess hall when Epinon came over.

"Ok here is the schedule for today. The preliminaries for the tournament start in one and a half hours and lasts for an hour and a half, where we take a one hour break, and begin the second round when we return. The semi-finals and finals are played tomorrow. At around noon the Archery competition starts and lasts for two hours. In the afternoon the ceremony for the blessed hunt begins, which takes an hour. After that everyone parties. Did you guys get all that?"

They nodded their heads.

"Good, then I'll meet you both on the training field." She then left to accomplish her other duties.

"I'll try to finish my match quickly, so I can see your archery."

"Thank you Fate-chan, but don't lose."

"I won't if you won't"

"deal"

_______________

Fate was getting ready for the tournament. Since she didn't have a weapon she chose one from a rack that had all kinds of weapons, she decided to go with a sword for the first round.

After choosing her weapon she made her way over to Epinon, who was explaining the rules to everyone. She glanced at Nanoha and Vivio, who were sitting underneath a tree. They waved to her and she waved back giving them a gentle smile.

"Alright, here are the rules: No eye gouging, hair pulling, maiming, or attacking with the intent to kill. Remember this is a game not a real battle. You win if: the person steps out of the white box marked on the ground. Or the other person has you in a disabling position: where if by the count of 10 you haven't broken free you lose, or in real combat you would be considered dead. And of course if the other yields. Any questions….. No. Good. Then everyone pick a number out of the hat. The first match begins in 5 minutes."

They formed a line, and drew numbers as an Amazon assistant placed the name to the matching number on the board. Around 16 women were competing, which made for 8 different matches.

Fate drew the number 3 out of the hat. The Amazon wrote her name and she walked toward her family, allowing the next person to pick a number.

"who are you up against?"

"Don't know. I didn't bother looking."

"So when's your match?"

"third."

Xena walked over to them after she finished picking her number.

"When's your match?" Fate said.

"Last"

"hmm. That means if we both end up winning our matches, I'll see you at the finals."

Xena nodded "I'm looking forward to sparing with you, so don't lose."

Fate smiled, Xena really did remind her of Signum "I won't."

They sat there and watched the first two matches before Fate stood up and made her way to the ring.

Nanoha called to her "Good luck!"

Vivio copied her mother "Go get'em Fate-mama!"

Fate waved to them in acknowledgement, and stepped into the ring. Her opponent was a big burly woman with short brown hair and brown eyes.

"You puny. Brunhelda go easy on you." She said slowly.

Fate shook her head all the nutrients must of went to her muscles and not her brain. "You don't have to on my account I can take care of myself."

"Alright, ready your weapons!"

Brunhelda held up her club with a round spiked ball at the top, while Fate held her sword vertically.

"Fight!"

Brunhelda immediately brought down her spiked club on Fate who blocked it. She felt the brute force of the blow, but it was nothing compared to the force Signum used.

She pushed forward causing Brunhelda to stagger backwards. Her face showed surprise that someone so small could push her back.

"you strong, for puny person." She then ran forward and swung the club down again, but Fate ducked out of the way and side kicked her side. She fell to the floor.

Fate waited for her to get back up.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines the amazons were awestruck by the fight.

"Did you see that. She pushed Brunhelda back. I couldn't even do that when I spared with her. That women has nothing but brute force." One Amazon said.

"Yeah and did you see how she blocked her overhead strike that's one of her strongest attacks no one in the village could keep their sword unmoving like that." The other said.

Nanoha had to smile at the Amazon's comments she knew her Fate was strong in both magical and physical combat, even though she looked gentle.

Brunhelda swung her club across. Fate jumped back away from the strike. She then made her own attack. She swung her sword down pining Brunhelda's weapon to the floor before she could swing it back up. She then kicked her again, this time in the abdomen.

The force of the blow caused Brunhelda to let go of her weapon as she staggered back again. She tried catching her breath, but Fate was upon her again this time with a high kick to the head. She spun and hit the floor. She stood up a little disoriented, but she stopped her foes next attack to her head with her arm.

Fate saw a punch headed for her face, but ducked. She then saw another punch heading for her midsection, but side stepped the blow. Fate kicked Brunhelda behind the knees, she fell to the floor again, but this time Fate got on top of her and brought the sword around and under her neck.

"End match. Fate wins." After hearing the refs call, the scorer wrote Fate's name for the next round.

Fate got off of Brunhelda allowing the women to stand up and retrieve her weapon. She walked back to Nanoha, who was smiling at her.

"Nice match" Xena said.

"Thanks"

Not too long after a couple of amazons, who witnessed the fight, approached her.

"At first I didn't think you were the fighting type, but by Artemis your fight was awesome."

"Yeah, we couldn't believe you actually stopped Brunhelda's attacks her force is like hitting a brick wall with a horse at full gallop."

And so it went, praising her fighting and retelling snippets of the match to other amazons.

_I think you've just made yourself a fan club Fate-chan._

Fate didn't comment on it. "My next match won't be till after the break. So, how about we take a look around?" Fate told her family.

Nanoha and Vivio stood up to go. Fate looked down at the dark haired warrior "you want to come?" she invited her along, since she knew Xena had time before her match.

The warrior stood up, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to find Gabrielle."

Fate nodded and they both walked their separate ways.

"You seem to get along quite well." Nanoha commented after observing the exchange, and remembering all the other times they conversed.

Fate shrugged "she reminds me of Signum"

Nanoha thought about it and had to agree the warrior's behavior was reminiscent to the pink haired knight. "You must miss her?"

Fate shook her head "No, as long as you're beside me I'm fine."

Nanoha almost blushed. The blond had been real sweet throughout their time hear. It was also, the first time since they were kids that they spent so much time together without interruptions. She felt like she was getting to know the blond all over again. She grabbed Fate's hand as the other held Vivio's "Let's get going." She tugged them forward as she suddenly moved. They both stumbled before they matched Nanoha's pace.

The village was bustling with activity, laughter, and kids playing. It reminded them of the cultural festivals during their school days only less crowded. Vivio spotted a familiar figure, and let go of Nanoha's hand running toward them.

No longer feeling Vivio's hand, Nanoha glanced at where she was supposed to be only to find an empty spot. Before she could start worrying, she saw Vivio walking back with a woman dressed in brown with green trimmed ceremonial robe.

When she got nearer Fate and Nanoha were able to see heterochromatic eyes much like their daughter's, only blue and brown.

"Hi, I'm Lidea. You must be Vivio's parents." She greeted them.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Nanoha and she's Fate" Nanoha pointed to her.

"Yes I know. Vivio's told me about you." She turned her head as another amazon in ceremonial robes called her. "Lidea! We have to go the priestess is calling for us."

"Okay! I'm coming!" She called back. She turned her attention back to Vivio and her parents "sorry to cut this short, but duty calls. It was nice meeting you!" She said as she ran off.

They continued on enjoying the sights, and playing games similar to the ones at the carnival.

Returning from a baker's stand, Fate handed Vivio a bag of cookies as she spoke to Nanoha "Let's head back, I want to see Xena's match"

_______________

Xena just blocked a sword strike to her chest when she spotted, from the corner of her eye, Fate and her family sitting against a tree. She turned her attention back to the fight, kicking her right leg at her opponent's ankle causing them to tumble to the ground on their side. Xena jumped as her opponent's extended leg swirled. Her opponent then kicked both her legs up as she back handspring to her feet, sword raised. Xena moved her head back avoiding a kick to the chin.

They then engaged in a volley of sword blows, until Xena let out her famous war cry "AIAIAIAIAIAIYHAA!" as she somersaulted in the air over her opponent's head. Once she landed on her feet she had her sword pointed under her opponent's neck, when they turned trying to follow Xena's movement.

"End match. Xena wins."

"Nothing new there. Xena always wins" One amazon commented as another nodded her head.

"Yeah, but it's still cool to see her fight." Another said.

_Is it even humanly possible to jump over 5 feet without a running start?_ As a combat instructor she could reproduce a move just by observing and analyzing it, but her mind just couldn't understand how Xena had jumped so high without the use of magic.

_It just happened_ Fate telecast her thought as a matter of fact. She could careless how she did it just that it was done.

Xena sauntered over to them.

"Nice fight" Fate complimented.

"hmm"

_________________

**Archery Field**

The tournament's second round had already started. Vivio was with Gabrielle watching the tournament while Nanoha was currently preparing for the archery competition where she and 9 other competitors were participating.

The first round would be to hit a target, made from a stack of hay, 30 meters away. On the haystack alternating white and red circles were painted gradually decreasing in size till the bull's eye point. It was the traditional sign used for target practice.

She tested the bow's tension pulling on the string and releasing it.

She then heard the words "Ready your bows!"

She picked up a blue feather tipped arrow, placing it against the bowstring and pulled it back.

"Fire!"

She released the string. The arrow sailed through the air until it struck the outer circle painted on the haystack horizontally in line with the bull's eye. Not discouraged Nanoha adjusted her body and let her second arrow loose. It struck the second furthest rung from the bull's eye on the opposite side of her first arrow. _I guess I over adjusted._ She corrected her position again and the arrow struck the target midway to the bull's eye. _Hmm I was close that time. _She strung another arrow and let it fly. It hit dead center. She smiled. Nanoha's arrows formed a perfectly straight line going across the target.

"Cease Fire!"

An amazon marked each woman's score on parchment. She then ran and gave her results to the announcers as the contestants retrieved their arrows. Two amazons then ran out and moved the hay stacks back 30 meters, leaving a total of 60 meter distance between the archer and the target.

As the targets were being set up for the next round the announcer announced the results.

"In 30 meter distance: Medea wins best accuracy! Nanoha wins best Precision! and Stesha wins accuracy and precision!"

Some amazons cheered for their friends, as the archers got ready for the second round.

_________________

Meanwhile, at the tournament the second match had just begun. Fate faced off against an agile and quick brown haired amazon, named Fea. A flurry of motion was seen, two blades clashed. Fate's scythe locked with Fea's sword. They both pushed against each other before they jumped back readying for another attack.

Fea quickly ran forward, an arm swinging a sword around only for her opponent to block it with a sickle shaped blade. Fate tilted her weapon allowing the sword to slide forward as she spun her body her weapon's side connecting with her opponent's back, jerking her forward.

As Fea stumbled forward she pivoted on her toes facing Fate again. She moved quickly swinging her sword left then right, in combination with low and sidekicks, but Fate's defense was impenetrable. Every attack she made Fate blocked or dodged. She decided to step it up a notch, and picked up the speed of her attacks. She twirled her sword around quickly preparing her body for the next series of attacks.

"ou, Fea's getting serious."

"poor kid. There's no way she can win against Fea's super speed attacks."

The amazon spectator's nodded in agreement feeling sorry for Fate.

Fea moved quickly twirling her sword in a flurry of motion making it blur. Fate waited, then side stepped bringing her scythe to the side blocking a sword strike to her right arm. Fea spun continuing to move, regardless of being blocked. Her sword spun with her to the right, but Fate blocked again. This time instead of spinning she thrust her sword forward but Fate sidestepped the attack. Not stopping, she swung her sword in an arch aiming for Fate's side. Fate twirled out of the way swinging her scythe toward her opponent's right side. Fea knocked the scythe away from her side, as she spun kicked Fate's head, who blocked the attack with her arm bringing her scythe down with her other arm.

To the spectators Fate and Fea's movements couldn't be deciphered. They were just continually moving without pause, almost like a whirled wind of motion where one attack meshed into the other without any clear end or beginning.

"Can you believe this! The blond's keeping up with Fea!" An amazon said excitedly.

"She seems to be full of surprises. She took on our strongest amazon and won, and now she's holding her own against our fastest fighter." Another amazon commented.

Fate had to admit Fea was fast, but she was faster. _I need to end this. I want to see Nanoha's competition_. She tried searching for an opening as she dodged and blocked Fea's attacks. _Got you_. Fate twirled her scythe over her head bringing the blunt end down on her opponents head while Fea trust her sword forward grazing the clothing on Fate's side.

Fea fell. She shook her head trying to rid herself of the stars around her eyes. When her vision finally cleared she was met with a tall blonde standing over her a scythe's blade right in front of her face.

"End match. Fate wins"

The blade moved away from her face and the blond stepped aside lending her a hand up.

"You're fast." Fea complimented her as she stood to her feet.

"You're not so bad yourself." Fate said. She then made her way to Vivio, and quickly walked to the archery field.

_________________

They were already into the third round when Nanoha spotted Fate and Vivio pass by. She smiled and returned her family's wave. She then focused back on her target 90 meters away.

She strung her second arrow and let it fly. The arrow cut through the air before striking the top edge of the bull's eye opposite her first arrow. She smiled at her success. She finally grasped a feel for the bow by the last round making it much easier to hit her target.

She grabbed two arrows this time and strung them. She tilted her bow to the right at a 45 degree angle. Pulling back on the bowstring, she took aim and released the string. The two arrows sailed through the air before striking the edge of the bull's eye underneath her first two arrows.

She strung another two arrows and tilted her bow to the left at a 45 degree angle. Again the arrows hit the edge of the bull's eye.

"Cease fire!"

Everyone immediately stopped. The score keeper ran and marked each woman's score, but when she reached Nanoha's target she stopped. She looked between Nanoha and the target a full two minutes, not believing the image staring back at her. There in front of her in all its smiling glory was an image of a smiley face made from perfectly positioned arrows.

Annoyed by the slow progress the announcer yelled "Score Keeper!" The woman startled looked to the announcer. "Hurry up!" She nodded her head and proceeded to score the ridiculous looking target.

Nanoha almost busted out laughing. She didn't think her sense of humor would cause such an amusing reaction. The woman's gapping mouth opening and closing like a fish was absolutely priceless.

Finally done, the score keeper handed the announcer the results.

"In the 90 meter distance: Helice wins best precision, Nerin wins best accuracy, and Nanoha win best accuracy and precision."

Fate and Vivio cheered for her as she walked over to them, the amazons setting up the next targets.

"You know I saw what you did" Fate said.

Nanoha looked innocently at her "why, whatever do you mean Fate-chan?"

Fate decided to amuse her "Oh, I don't know, how about a smiley face."

Nanoha talked in a sugar sweet voice, still playing "Your smiley faces are always the cutest Fate-chan."

Fate had a light blush going across her nose "thank you, but I meant yours." She blushed harder after hearing what she just said.

Nanoha put on a cute face "Aww, you're so sweet" She then gave her a beaming smile, which to Fate, seemed brighter than the sun. She could have melted right there and then.

Nanoha started to laugh then said "I was only having some fun, but you know the score keeps face was just so funny."

"Archer's get ready!"

"That's my cue. Be back in a bit." Nanoha winked at Fate before running back to her spot.

Fate shook her head at Nanoha's playfulness.

This time the targets, at a distance of 60 meters, were moving. There were boards of all shapes and sizes hanging from a thick string being pulled back and forth by two amazons a safe distance away from the soaring arrows. The archer that hit the most targets, or had the highest score before time was called won. In this case, the smaller targets were worth more than the larger ones.

With all the archers in position the announcer called "Ready Bows!"

Nanoha strung her bow and pulled the string back.

"Fire!"

She aimed at one of the moving targets and shot her arrow. Without even bothering to check if it landed she quickly strung another arrow aimed for the smaller targets and shot. Not stopping she decided to string two arrows, she tilted her bow horizontally, and let the arrows fly. This went on until all her arrows were used up with time to spare.

"Cease Fire!"

All archers immediately stopped shooting, the targets stopped moving, and the score keeper went to tally the points. When she was done she gave the results to the announcer.

"Higest scorer is Nanoha with 280 points. Second highest scorer is Nerin with 200 points. Most targets hit was Nanoha with..." The announcer paused whispering to the score keep, "is this really true?"

The score keeper nodded. The announcer then went back to announcing shocked by what she read "most targets hit was Nanoha with all 40 targets! The winner of today's competition with outstanding scores in every round is… Nanoha."

Nanoha smiled she wasn't called the Ace of Aces for nothing her long-range sharp shooting skills were legendary back home. Finished with her competition she walked back to Fate, ignoring the stares the amazons gave her.

"Nice shooting." Fate's calm voice said.

"Thanks" Nanoha chirped.

Vivio got up and hugged her blue-eyed mother "Nanoha-mama was really cool!"

Nanaoha looked down at her speaking to her tenderly "Thank you, Vivio"

She turned back to Fate "How was your match Fate-chan?"

"I won." Fate said nonchalantly.

"Yeah!" Vivio suddenly said turning her mothers' attention on her.

She then excitedly acted out Fate's fight "Fate-mama went like this" she spun around swinging an imaginary weapon. "and then like this" she swung her pretend weapon toward the ground "and then she won." She said as she looked up at their smiling faces.

"Seems like it was exciting" Nanoha commented.

Vivio nodded.

Two amazons walked by where they sat whispering amongst themselves.

"That's them! The foreigners who beat some of our best warriors and archers." A dark haired amazon said.

"Really? They don't look like much." Her friend said.

"You weren't there. I saw the blond fight she was able to throw Brunhelda back and keep up with Fea!" The dark haired one said excitedly.

"I can't believe it." She said incredulously "Brunhelda has monstrous strength, and Fea is as fast as the wind."

"I know, but it's true!" The other said conspiratorially "And I heard from Delia that her brown haired friend was able to shoot all the moving targets, as well as create an image in the 90 meter distance."

"Now you're just being ridiculous Kaia." Her friend said to the dark haired amazon.

"Don't look at me! Delia said it." Kaia said defensively.

"And you believed her?!" Layla, Kaia's friend said.

"Well, yeah. Because the blond fought so well I figure her friend could do cool things too."

Layla gave her a your-gullible look, and they both walked on.

_______________

"Epinon said that a ceremony was suppose to be taking place now, do you want to watch?" Fate asked Nanoha.

Nanoha shrugged, but Vivio piped up "I do! Lidea is suppose to be there can I watch."

"Okay. It's decided, we'll go watch the ceremony." Fate said to her daughter.

Dancer's were dancing wildly in front of the bonfire as the drums beat out a fast paced tempo. Walking from the forest a bunch of women dressed in brown with green trim robes followed a white with green trim robed person, the priestess. They stopped in front of five kneeling woman in bird masks. At this point the drummers stopped playing and the dancer's stopped dancing.

The priestess raised a golden dagger into the air as two priestess' in training moved forward with two bowls. She dipped it into one of the bowls while saying an incantation. She then drew a red covered blade out of the bowl. She continued her incantation as she smeared the blood on the exposed arms, belly, back, and legs of each woman.

The blood signified the life force of the animals smearing it on the women was symbolic of them being one, or connected, with the animals in the forest. She dipped the dagger again in a different bowl this time it was covered in mud. She smeared it again on the same exposed parts. This signified the warriors being one with nature. When she was done she made one more incantation and touched each woman's weapons blessing it in Artemis' name.

The drums started up again pounding a marching beat. The women now blessed for the hunt entered the woods, where they would remain for the next seven days. After the last woman entered the forest, the drums broke out into a fast cadence once again, cueing the dancer's to dance.

"Well that was interesting." Nanoha said confused by what actually happened.

The rest of the night was spent partying and drinking.

________________________

It was their second day on amazon land, and Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio were at the tournament.

Fate had won her previous battle in the semi-finals, and now faced off with Xena. Almost all the amazon's from the village were there anticipating the fight between the stranger, who won against their best warriors and the famed Xena.

"She did well, but now it's the end of the line. No one beats Xena in a fight." One amazon said.

"Yeah, but I still wonder how she'll fight. She is surprising. She doesn't look like a warrior, but her skills clearly prove otherwise." Another remarked.

"I wonder how long she'll last." Another said.

The spectators stopped talking and watched the first strike of the match.

Fate and Xena circled each other waiting for the first move. Fate decided to attack first swinging her sword to Xena's right, which she blocked. She then swung left but was blocked again. They exchanged a few blows testing the other's reflexes before getting serious.

Xena attacked in an overhead strike but Fate blocked. While their swords were locked Xena kicked her right leg to Fate's left side, but she kicked her left leg out blocking the attack. They both jumped back, and then ran forward swing their swords until they clashed. They continuously clashed swords while pulling kicks and punches at each other that were either blocked or dodged. Their movements were fast and precise as they used the whole boxed ring in their fight.

Xena smiled at Fate as their swords locked again "You're good"

"Thanks" Fate said while kicking her foot toward Xena's ankle, who saw the move coming and jumped out of the way.

Fate pressed forward pushing Xena back. Xena stopped moving back just before the white line that marked the boundary of the ring. Having Xena cornered Fate swung her sword again intending for her to step out of the ring, but instead of moving back Xena cried out her war cry and somersaulted over Fate's head.

Fate quickly pivoted on her toes while her sword clashed with Xena's. Needing to move away from the boundary Fate zipped to the left as Xena's sword missed where she used to be.

Xena was surprised by her speed, but was enjoying the challenge Fate presented. Fate too was having a lot of fun, her sparing match with Xena a reminder of the one's she had with Signum.

"Wow! They've been going at it for 5 minutes and there still no clear winner in sight." An amazon commented.

Another nodded and spoke "The blonde's good, but I don't think she'll be able to last when Xena gets serious."

Finished with their warm-up, the speed and blows of the fight increased in intensity. A volley of blurred sword blows were exchanged between them neither giving nor gaining ground. As Xena somersaulted again, Fate turned quickly and attacked a landing Xena, catching her off guard. Somehow, Xena was able to fend off the unexpected blow, but as Fate continued to attack it was getting difficult to see where each blow was coming from. Fate was moving impossibly fast.

Not to be outdone by her opponent, Xena let a blow hit while she kicked Fate's midsection, sending her back a few feet. Fate twisted her body allowing herself to land on her feet in a crouched position before running forward and attacking again.

Within milliseconds Fate was upon her again relentlessly attacking _She's fast. Really fast._ Although Xena herself was fast, at least fast enough to catch speeding arrows, Fate's speed beat her there. Her analytical mind searched for a weakness in Fate's defense, and then she found one.

As Fate brought up her sword for an upward strike, Xena suddenly crouched to the ground, whilst avoiding the sword, and spun kicked both of Fate's ankles causing her to fall backwards. Xena then quickly stood up bring her sword down. Seeing the descending sword from her position on the ground, Fate kicked both her legs upward stopping the blade's downward descent with the soles of her sandals, and tilted her legs sideways guiding the sword to the right allowing it to hit the ground before she rolled back on to her feet. All this was done in one continuous movement.

"Wha, Fate's good. I haven't really seen anyone keep up with Xena besides the God of War." Gabrielle commented to Nanoha.

"Xena's good too. Usually, the only one able to spar as Fate's equal is Signum." Nanoha offhandedly remarked.

Gabrielle gave her a questioning gaze "Who's Signum?"

"A knight back home." Gabrielle nodded and they returned to watching the match.

Fate and Xena circled each other while preparing for their final series of attacks. They both had a couple scratches here and there on their arms, legs, some nicks on their cheeks, their clothes stuck to their bodies as their hair was plastered to their faces, and they were covered in dirt from when they hit the ground.

Suddenly, they both ran forward, Fate jumped and pushed her sword down on Xena's as she landed. Surprised by the move but not hindered, Xena withstood the force of Fate's body pushing her back, and kicked Fate's ankle. She stumbled releasing the pressure placed on Xena's sword. Seeing a sword swing Fate quickly ducked. From her crouched position, Fate swung her sword at Xena's legs, which she somersaulted over landing behind Fate, and swinging her sword down at Fate's back, which Fate blocked by bringing her sword behind her back, not seeing but sensing the attack. Fate then spun around facing Xena while her sword was still holding Xena's off. Now facing each other swords locked, they exchanged a couple of kicks none landing on the other.

They pushed off each other again, and ran forward, but this time Fate kept running ducking Xena's sword. Still running she pivoted to face Xena's back, who quickly turned and knocked away a sword swing heading for her head. Not deterred, Fate kicked, punched, and swung her sword in a flurry of blurred motions, pushing Xena back toward the white boundary. Xena's foot stopped again before the white line, continuing to block and avoid Fate's continuous attacks.

Fate suddenly swung her sword left as she kicked Xena with the opposite leg, but Xena blocked both attacks. Using her free hand to grab Fate's leg, she held it in place as she kicked Fate's other leg out from under her. Fate's back hit the ground, but before Xena could pin her, in a blur motion, she kicked her free leg at Xena's sword hand causing the weapon to fly out of her hand. Her body in mid-air and parallel to the ground, Xena's hand supporting her caught leg, spun, her free leg kicking Xena's head causing her to let go of her captured leg and stumble back. Her foot stepped pass the white boundary.

To the audience it just looked like one moment Xena had the blonde and the next she was stumbling back.

"End match! Fate Wins!" the announcer said.

All the amazons were in shock, the repetition of _Xena lost_ going through their heads. Their minds just could not comprehend it, how could the legendary Xena warrior princess, who never lost a battle, lose.

Fate stood up and held out her hand to Xena, who was shaking her head clearing the dizziness from the blow. Now with her vision cleared, Xena grasped Fate's hand, "You're a great sparring partner."

"Thanks so were you. It's been a while since I had such a good spar" Fate smiled.

They then headed to where their friends sat, ignoring the still stunned faces of the amazons as they walked past.

"Wow! You were really amazing. I never would have thought that Xena would lose though." Gabrielle said as a congratulatory remark.

"How do you feel Xena?" Gabrielle said to the warrior a bit concerned.

"It was a great match, I enjoyed the fight." Xena said

Gabrielle shook her head and muttered "warriors always going after the thrill of the fight."

Nanoha nodded her head in agreement with Gabrielle's comment. Then in a pitying voice "I know what you mean. Fate-chan would always go into a battle frenzy with Signum, and come back black and blue with a goofy grin on her face."

Fate looked at Nanoha incredulously "so says the woman, who fights first asks questions later."

"And yet that's how I nabbed you FFFaaattteee-chan." She said in a teasing voice, drawing out her friends name in a sweet tone.

There was a faint blush on Fate's pale face that didn't go unnoticed by the warrior beside her.

A slight breeze blew in their direction bringing with it the scent of two smelly women.

Nanoha pinched her nose "Fate-chan you need a bath."

Fate blushed, "I'll go now then."

She looked to Gabrielle "where can I…" Before she got the chance to finish her sentence the warrior beside her interrupted.

"I'll take you. I need a bath anyway." Xena's low voice said.

Fate nodded and left with Xena to freshen up.

__________________

**Forest waterfall**

"we're bathing here?" Fate asked, she thought there would be some communal bath in the village.

"Yeah." Xena stated as she started taking of her clothes.

Fate followed her, removing her sandals, unwrapping the sash around her waist, and unbuttoning the buttons at her shoulders that held the toga together. She allowed the toga and sash to fall to the floor stepping out of them. She placed them on a tree branch along with her undergarments and towel.

Her hair was loose covering the long crisscrossed scars, which looked like they were made by a whip, on her back.

She entered the cool water. The warrior already swimming around. She dunked her head under her long hair flowing around like a blond strands of silk. She resurfaced near the gushing water, resting her body against the rocks.

Xena swam up to her "So… how is your relationship with Nanoha?" She normally wasn't the type to talk about feelings, but she felt that Fate was like the little sister she never had, which was surprising considering she only knew her for a couple of days.

Fate looked at the warrior, surprised by the question, "um… we're alright." She said a bit awkwardly.

"I meant how you feel about her?" the warrior said flatly.

Curious at the warrior's sudden interest in her, Fate asked "why do you want to know?"

"You were blushing earlier." She said matter of fact.

Fate felt embarrassed "you caught that?!"

The warrior remained silent as an answer.

Fate sighed, putting her head back her eyes staring unseeingly at the sky as she thought. An image of Nanoha's smiling face popped into her mind, and her lips automatically turned up into a grin.

"I always felt drawn to her even before we became friends. You know, she saved me. When I lost everything her hand reached out to me, supporting me as I found a new life for myself… " Fate trailed off her eyes glazed in memory.

Xena understood those feelings because she had gone through the same ones when Gabrielle saved her from herself.

Fate continued "I feel like I have to protect her, even though I know she is more than capable of protecting herself. I want her to smile and be happy, and I will do everything in my power to make her happy."

Fate looked to Xena, who wore an understanding face. "hmm. We're a bit the same you and I."

"I am not the hero and great person that Gabrielle portrays me to be" her face darkened as she said this. Then she told her story, Fate listening intently "Before I met Gabrielle, I used to be a ruthless warlord. At first I fought to protect my village, but then I loved the power and fear I held over people. By the time I realized what I had become I killed thousands of people, and became known as the Destroyer of Nations. When I met Gabrielle I intended on taking my life, but she intrigued me and so I kept on living helping people whenever I can. But no matter how hard I try, or how many people I help, I know I can never atone for what I've done. But, all that matters to me now is Gabrielle's safety and happiness." Xena looked down in shame unable to meet the blonde's eyes.

Fate couldn't help but feel they shared a similar life with different circumstances. She didn't share the bloodlust that Xena had, but she did at one time have a criminal record, committing the ultimate taboo in TSAB standings, helping to create a dimensional rift. Although, at the time she didn't know it. Even though her actions were to make her mother happy, things could have ended up badly and she, along with her mother, would have been responsible for the deaths of billions of lives.

Fate spoke to Xena out of experience "You know even if you do have a dark past as long as you're fighting for a good cause it doesn't matter."

She was about to argue when she looked at Fate's eyes, which spoke of experience. She nodded "I'll take your word on it."

They remained in the water longer, before heading out and putting on a clean pair of clothes. Xena wore another set of her brown letters and placed on her intricately designed breast armor. While Fate had to borrow a set of amazon clothing until her toga dried. The amazon clothes she wore were a leather brown top much like a bra and a mini skirt with a flap in the front and back.

A soft breeze blew a bit of Fate's hair away from her back giving Xena a glance of a scarred back. She didn't comment on it because she herself had many scars covering her body, and it wasn't uncommon for a warrior to have scars.

Fate's voice got her attention "This feels too drafty."

Xena chuckled making Fate glance at her "amazon's like the least possible amount of clothing. It's easier to maneuver in, keeps them cool, and provides them with a good view."

Fate's eyes widened at the last remark causing Xena to chuckle "don't worry they won't jump you unless their drunk" her serious voice said whilst teasing her.

Fate started to panic. She didn't need that kind of attention, _unless it's from Nanoha_ the unbidden thought popped into her mind causing her to mentally shake her head to get rid of it.

Xena almost laughed at Fate's expressions, which went from horrified to lustful to embarrassed, and back to horrified all within seconds.

She then looked at Xena pleadingly "you wouldn't happen to know if they have clothes with more covering…" her eyes lit up when a robed figure popped into her mind "like the robes from the ceremony"

This time Xena did laugh at Fate's shy behavior.

Fate looked at her with a why-are-you-laughing look. Xena soon calmed down "those robes are only for priestesses or priestesses in training. But, don't worry if you say no they'll leave you alone.

"you think?" Fate said worried.

"yes" Xena reaffirmed putting Fate at ease.

_________________

Nanoha was playing with Vivio, Gabrielle, and a couple of other amazons when a person with long blond hair and red eyes caught her eye. She was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful curves, round perked breasts, and well toned abdomen.

A voice pulled her out of her daze "Mama"

Her gaze traveled to her daughter "Yes Vivio"

"You're drooling." She pointed to her own mouth to indicate where.

Nanoha embarrassedly wiped at her mouth before her object of desire arrived "thank you Vivio" she said sincerely.

"Welcome" she then excitedly kicked the ball near her feet to the Amazon across from her.

"Can I play?" Fate said to the group playing what looked like soccer.

Some of the teenaged amazons stared with lust filled gazes at her completely transfixed by her beauty. Nanoha caught it not liking the attention **her** Fate-chan was rational mind then interjected _wait Fate-chan isn't mine, and I shouldn't care whether they stare at her or not_. Her heart swelled combating her mind with a wave of possession _No Fate-chan is only mine, and no one is allowed to look at her that way besides me._ Her face showed no indication of the battle her mind and heart waged inside her, leaving her confused.

An amazon answered Fate's question "Yeah, we could use another player."

Gabrielle then asked Xena "Do you want to play?"

The warrior thought it over "sure why not."

The amazons whooped for joy, then one of them spoke "Alright, we'll start a new game first to score 10 points wins."

Two teams formed each with 5 players. Nanoha, Vivio, Fate, Lidea, and Nera made one team, and Gabrielle, Xena, Adena, Myra, and Lyris made the other team.

Their positions were:

Goal keepers- Gabrielle and Nera

Forwards- Xena and Fate

Defense- Nanoha, Vivio and Myra, Adena

Forward helpers- Lidea and Lyris

Everyone took their positions. Since they didn't have a ref, they placed the ball in the center of the field, and who ever reached it first had the ball.

Xena and Fate waited intently for the start.

"3!... GO!" Gabrielle yelled.

They took off. Xena reached the ball before Fate. She maneuvered the ball around her as she tried to steal it, and continued forward.

Nanoha stepped in her way trying to kick the ball away from Xena, but she kicked the ball straight up punt it with her head and moved forward passed Nanoha.

She kicked the ball hard making it sail through the air and passed the goalies outstretched hands. Her team cheered as she made the first score of the game.

The next round Fate got the ball and zigzagged passed Xena and whoever else was in her way. She kicked the ball from the side, evening the score.

There game lasted an hour, with Nanoha occasionally stealing and passing the ball to Fate, and Gabrielle blocking some of Fate's shots. Vivio also blocked her fair share of balls heading toward the goal. However, Xena and Gabrielle's team won by one point the score 10 to 9.

_____________________

**Night time, Nanoha and Fate's hut**

"I'm bea'" (I'm beat) Nanoha said as she fell back on the bed.

" 'hose ami'ons can ssure par'y" Fate slurred. (those amazon can sure party)

They were both drunk from drinking, which is why they were heading to bed now. Fate lay beside Nanoha, who turned over and looked at Fate. Her hand slowly ran across Fate's soft skin up to her hair, running her hands through the soft strands causing Fate to feel drowsy and content.

Nanoha's thick and husky voice suddenly broke the silence "you're beau'iful"

Fate felt something soft on her lips, she opened her eyes.

Nanoha saw, half lidded, glazed yet tender red eyes stare at her as her thumb barely touched Fate's lips. She wanted to kiss her, but didn't. Instead, she kissed Fate's forehead, chin, nose, cheek, everywhere else on her face besides her lips.

Fate didn't know what was going on but she felt electricity shoot through all the places Nanoha's lips touched. She wanted more. She wanted her lips.

She turned them around with her arms and legs straddling Nanoha's resting form beneath her. Dark blue eyes filled with lust, desire, and something else stared into her red eyes, which reflected back those same emotions. She reached for Nanoha's hair with her right hand gently traveling down tracing her facial features.

Nanoha's senses were on overload, Fate's intoxicating scent, coupled with the tingling sensation of Fate's touch caused her to go crazy. _I think I drank _too_ much I feel like I am on fire._

She felt her hand stop only to be replaced by warm air and the stench of alcohol. Fate's face was right above her, her eyes different from the normal blood red, they were darker almost burgundy red filled with desire, hunger, and lust.

Fate's lips were just a hair's breath away from Nanoha's when reason finally kicked in like a slap in the face. She immediately retracted her head as if she were burned.

Nanoha suddenly felt cold and saw a brown ceiling where red eyes used to be. Confused she looked to the now shaking Fate.

"I'm sorry Nanoha" she whispered over and over again, without a trace of a slur.

Nanoha ran her hand though her hair, calming her down till her body relaxed. "There is nothing to be sorry for Fate."

Fate looked up at her. She didn't use the honorific, which either meant she was really angry or really serious. She was leaning toward serious since her tone of voice was soft and gentle.

"Nanoha I almost kissed you!" Fate said angry at her lack of self control.

"I wouldn't have minded" Nanoha said with all seriousness.

Fate couldn't believe her words, not wanting to feel false hope she said "Your drunk Nanoha, You don't know what you're saying"

"You're drunk to Fate, which means you don't know what you were doing either, and besides I started it." Nanoha reasoned to her.

The thoughts and concerns went through Fate's mind.

_Nanoha does have a point, but we can't do this. Were both drunk and just got caught up in the moment. She wouldn't start anything if she weren't drunk. And even if she did, we need to think about this, about us. I don't know what's going on between us anymore._

"I'm going to sleep Nanoha." Fate moved away from Nanoha's hand and to the far right of the bed.

Nanoha sighed _I hope I didn't just ruin our friendship._ She lay on the bed worried about what would become of them.

Their minds were filled with worry but as soon as they fell asleep their bodies migrated toward each other. Their bodies both laid on their sides with Nanoha's body spooned up against Fate's whose arms were wrapped around her.

_________________________

As Nanoha lay between wakefulness and sleep she felt warm and safe. As her mind slowly became more coherent she felt a body pressed up against her and arms wrapped around her waist. Her mind reasoned that it could only be Fate, and the gentle feminine hand she touched confirmed it. She tried moving the arm around her waist, but it wouldn't budge in fact it held her even tighter.

She figured the only way she could move would be to wake Fate up, but she didn't want to disturb her sleep. So she resigned herself to lay there with Fate's arms around her waist, until she fell back asleep.

The next time she awoke the sun was further up in the sky and the arms around her waist were looser. She felt Fate stir behind her, and turned around to see bleary red eyes opening to meet clear soft blue.

A gentle smile was on Fate's face and in a sleepy voice said "morning." She then stretched and yawned.

"morning Fate-chan" Nanoha said more awake then her friend.

Now that the haze of sleep cleared Fate notice Nanoha still in bed. She looked confused "not that I mind but why are you still in bed?"

"Because you wouldn't let go of me earlier" Nanoha said.

Fate didn't understand what she meant, till her brain processed the sleeping position they were in when she woke up. Her face turned red from embarrassment.

"Sorry." She sheepishly said.

Nanoha chuckled "that's alright, it was good getting an extra couple hours sleep."

Neither of them brought up yesterday night's events figuring it to be a drunken dream. They went about doing their morning routine. Now that her toga was dry Fate wore it, and went to check on Vivio in the other room as Nanoha prepared their things.

She was still peacefully sleeping when she got there. Fate gently shook her daughter's shoulder as she softly tried to raise her from her sleep "Vivio, dear it's time to wake up… Vivio…come on honey wake up."

Her daughter mumbled in her sleep "5 minutes mama."

Fate smiled, but continued to gently shake her daughter's shoulder "Vivio… you have to wake up, we need to go."

The insistent voice and movement finally woke her daughter. She sat up rubbing her eyes, and yawned.

"Morning Fate-mama" She said in a sleepy voice.

"Morning Vivio, you'll have to hurry we need to leave today." Fate said gently.

Vivio nodded and began to dress for the day as Fate left the room.

After they ate, they went to the stables where Xena told them they'd meet. Xena was preparing her horse for travel when Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio entered the stables.

"Ready to go?" Xena said.

They nodded then Nanoha looked around "Where's Gabrielle?"

"She's not coming because of her Queenly duties, and I'm planning on coming back here anyway after I lead you to the main road." Xena informed.

"How long will it take to get there?" Nanoha asked

"You should be on the main road before noon, from there it's about a day's walk to Athens." Xena informed.

As they walked out of the stables a couple of amazon's saw them and came over.

"Where you guys going?" one asked

Xena answered "I'm taking them to the main road."

They looked to Nanoha and her family giving them pleading looks "must you leave. You guys were awesome in the archery competition and tournament. We'd like to see you in some of the other competitions."

Nanoha and Fate earned quite a reputation for their feats in the amazon village. The women there were awed by their skill, and respected them for it, thinking of them as true amazons even though they weren't.

"We need to get to Athens. So we have to leave." Fate told them.

Their faces drooped down in disappointment. One amazon's face brightened up as a thought came to her "Then after your trip to Athens will you come back and spar with us?"

Not wanting to disappoint them, Fate said "we might, if we can."

Happy with the answer the amazons left them anticipating the day they would return.

_That was mean Fate-chan you gave them false hope._ Nanoha gently scolded.

_At least they're not upset, and besides I never promised we would come back only that we might. _Fate said defensively.

Eventually they made it out of the village with many good-byes, some food, a sword for Fate and a bow and arrows for Nanoha. Even though they tried to decline the weapons, the amazons would have none of it. They knew the road was a dangerous place, and two women with a child should have something to defend themselves with, even if Nanoha and Fate were really skilled warriors. So, the amazons gave them the weapons as a gift, and a blessing from Artemis for a safe journey.

They made it out of the forest onto the main road by noon just as Xena said.

"Alright here is the main road just follow it till you reach Athens." Xena pointed in a southern direction from a top her horse.

Fate nodded her head, and Xena left turning her horse back toward the forest.

"Will you miss her?" Nanoha asked seeing Fate still looking at where Xena just left.

Fate turned to Nanoha "No, it's just we have a sort of understanding between us."

Fate started to walk "Come on, we have a long walk ahead of us."

Nanoha walked beside Fate as they continued their journey.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AN: I like this scene and I wanted it in the story but it didn't work out.

**Deleted Scene**

takes place after Vivio leaves with the amazons. Toward the beginning of the chapter.

**With Nanoha and Fate**

"hie cu'ie where h've you bin oll my wife?" (hey cutie where have you been all my life) An amazon slurred as she heavily leaned on the table where Nanoha, Fate, Xena, Gabrielle, Epinon, Ephiny, and other amazons sat and drank.

Fate's bleary red eyes drunk from over 20 cups of ale unsteadily gazed at the amazon "huh?"

Not caring for a reply, the drunken amazon moved her head toward Fate's.

Cloudy blue eyes turned to the newcomer when she heard a voice speaking near Fate. She glimpsed at the amazon leaning toward Fate.

The amazon suddenly felt her face hit something hard. She pulled back rubbing her pained face, which had a red cup imprint on it. She looked to Fate, whose face was covered by a wooden cup. Her eyes tracked the hand holding the cup to Nanoha.

" 'orry. My 'and swipt" (sorry my hand slipped) Nanoha slurred at the amazon lowering the cup, and exposing Fate's confused face. Fate didn't realize what happened at all.

The amazon saw Nanoha's arm wrap around Fate's shoulders possessively. Within the clouded mind the small tendril of reason left computed the scene, _oh she's taken._ The amazon nodded toward Nanoha " 'orry. My mis'ache." (sorry my mistake) She then left them, walking unsteadily.

Fate didn't even notice her leave, her eyes staring into space.

Nanoha went to drink the last sips of ale from the cup that so kindly hit the amazon. Not feeling the burning liquid enter her mouth she removed the cup from her lips. Her eye stared into an empty cup. She turned it over nothing dripping out. She then placed it on the table disappointed.

"wanoah" (nanoha)

Nanoha turned her head to the soft but drunken voice "huh"

Fate rested her head on her shoulder. Nanoha's arm, which hadn't moved from around her shoulder, held her close. "I'm 'iard" (I'm tired) Fate slurred.

Nanoha nodded her head, and unsteadily stood to her feet bringing Fate up along with her. Fate gazed down at her confused at her new orientation. Nanoha cleared some of it "wet's go." Fate nodded. They both leaned on each other as they unsteadily walked to their hut.

**********

**Guest Hut**

Fate was practically asleep as she leaned on Nanoha, who had a hard time keeping her up in her own drunken state. Her hand fumbled on the doorknob to their hut. She eventually grasped it, turning it and opening the door. They stumbled their way through the opening. Nanoha kicked the door shut from behind her while she helped Fate walk to bed. She gently sat her down.

"hmif" She grunted, catching Fate's upper body as it toppled forward. She lifted her up and gently laid her on the bed. She then bent down to untie and remove Fate's sandals. Finished, she lifted the slender legs onto the bed.

She was about to leave when she heard Fate protest and saw an arm stretched out toward her trying to catch her "don' go." (don't) Unable to reach the arm plopped down on the bed.

Nanoha smiled down at her, her speech slurred "I'm no'. I'm oing 'ou chewahk on Vivweo."(I'm not. I'm going to check on vivio)

"ohay" (okay)

Having her compliance, Nanoha walked to Vivio's room. Vivio had come to them earlier stating that she was going to bed. Nanoha smiled as she saw her sleeping in bed. She bent over kissing her on the forehead before leaving the room.

Back in the main room, which was also her room, Nanoha sat on the other side of the bed taking off her sandals. She then laid down near Fate.

Feeling the bed shift, Fate turned over and sought out the warmth beside her.

"I 'ought you were asweep" (I thought you were asleep) Nanoha said wrapping her arm around Fate.

"no' whee ow you"(not without you) Fate hugged her close.

Nanoha kissed her forehead, and settled down with Fate. Both soon fell asleep in each others arms.

_______________________________________________________________

AN: That's the end of that. Hope you liked it.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

This chapter is my favorite so far. I hope you like it to. Enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chp. 6 Gods and Goddesses

**Athens, afternoon**

Athens was just like a modern city with all the hustle and bustle of activity. Carts and people were moving around from one place to another. There were all kinds of merchants selling some unique and exotic wares while others sold the usual products between Greek city-states, and since Athens was located near the coast, you had all kinds of people from all over the world doing business.

There was also the usual separation between the rich and poor seen in the architecture of the place. In the rich part of Athens all the buildings were made from white stone and the roads paved by cobble forming a maze of streets and alleys. The poorer sections had the more traditional dirt road and wooden housing.

Nanoha and Fate were almost dizzy from all the activity. Nanoha took Vivio's hand, who looked up at her curiously "Don't let go. I don't want us to get separated."

Spotting a pottery seller relatively empty of customers, Fate made her way over, Nanoha and Vivio following along behind her. The graying haired man looked up at them thinking he could make a sale.

"How can I help you?"

"How do we get to Athena's temple?" Fate asked.

The man mentally sighed but gave them directions, "Athena's temple is in the Acropolis up on that hill" he pointed to a rock formation overlooking Athens "you can take a cart there for 3 coins, or walk up this street till the butcher's shop where you make a right till you reach the outskirts and head up the trail, which leads you to the Acropolis."

_Did you get all that Fate-chan._

_Yeah, straight, right, then straight till the temple._

"Okay, thank you" Fate said before she headed with Nanoha and Vivio up the street.

________________________

**The Acropolis**

The view was spectacular. They could see the city below them illuminated in a red-orange hue from the setting sun reflecting off the stucco and stone. The Agean Sea sparkled and stretched out like a blanket to meet the sun, which gave off a range of red, orange, and yellow tints to the sky, and in front of them stood the great temple of Athena, made from a white stone roof and giant supporting columns that acted as its walls.

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio made it up the stone steps where they were greeted by a white robed priestess.

"Greetings, followers of Athena. I'm afraid you must remove your weapons before you enter the temple." The priestess with graying brown hair and brown eyes said.

"Of course." Nanoha said removing the bow and arrows going across her shoulders, as Fate removed the sheathed sword tied at her hip. They both gave the weapons to the priestess, who had a pleasant smile on her face.

"Thank you, I'll be keeping these safe as you pray." She then walked off.

They entered the temple, and the first thing they noticed was a giant gold statue of a women dressed in armor a shield on the ground and an owl on her right shoulder. Near the statue was a table filled with all kinds of offerings, like pottery, food, and jewels. Besides the occasional priestesses walking by, the room was empty of all other worshipers.

_Guess we picked a good time to see a goddess. _Nanoha commented.

_Yeah, now how do we get her attention?_ Fate wondered.

_I have an idea, can I have a coin. _Nanoha said.

Fate dropped the bag from her shoulder, rooting through it till she found a small pouch where she took out one coin and handed it to Nanoha.

Nanoha placed the coin on the table while she spoke reverently "Oh, great and mighty Athena I seek your divine presence. Please come before me as I offer you this coin."

N: _How was that?_

F: _Very worshipful _

N: _think she'll show?_

F: _Don't know, let's give her a couple of minutes._

They waited for 5 minutes and there was still no sign of the goddess.

___________________

**Mount Olympus **

A counsel of all the gods and goddess was taking place.

"Zeus, I have bad news. The evil god, Dahawk, has risen again…" Athena couldn't complete her sentence because the gods went into an uproar.

"That's impossible Hercules sealed him at his temple!" Pan, the god of mischief, half goat half man said.

"Yeah! And he has no avatar, his daughter Hope was dealt with by Xena and Gabrielle!" Poseidon, god of the sea, who had a sparkling, like water droplets, long white beard and hair with eyes the color of the ocean, a well built body, and a trident in his right hand, spoke.

Zeus, with white wavy hair and masculine face, raised his hand a thunder clap was heard and the gods quieted down. "Continue Athena" his deep voice rumbled.

"Well, despite Xena and Hercules' best efforts, Dahawk has risen again with the help of Alti."

"Alti! You mean that deranged amazon shaman." Ares, the god of war, who had wavy black hair framing his face and facial hair around his chin and mouth, and dark brown eyes, wearing black leather vest and pants, said.

"She's no longer an amazon Ares." Artemis, goddess of the hunt and moon, with earth brown hair and forest green eyes, wearing her suede hunting clothes, which was a shirt and skirt, said in defense of her amazons.

"So like, what do we do now?" Aphrodite, goddess of love, with long partially curly blond hair, blue eyes, and in a pink dress, said.

The gods concerns stemmed from a fear of Dahawk. He was an evil demonic god, who brought blood, rage, and destruction in his wake. The last time his presence was in Greece he had an army of followers with Hope, his daughter, leading them to destroy the gods of Olympus.

"As the rules state, we can't directly fight against Dahawk's worshipers, but we can have champions with our favor fighting for us." Athena said.

"In that case, Xena will be my champion!" Ares said smugly. He heard a comment coming from beside him, and glanced over at the goddess.

"Doesn't she always refuse you Ares." Discord, with long black hair, pale skin, and in a dominatrix outfit commented slyly as she was filing her black fingernails.

"She won't this time, I've got the perfect plan" He said with a clenched fist held in triumph.

"Yeah you keep telling yourself that" She said, blowing on her nails.

As the gods mingled amongst themselves, Athena felt a weird presence coming from her main temple in Athens. "Father, may I be excused."

Zeus looked down at his wise daughter, he nodded his head in consent, and Athena disappeared in a shower of golden sparkles. She reappeared in her room on mount Olympus, and looked into a bowl of water, which showed Fate and Nanoha in crystal clear view waiting at her temple. She was curious about them, even though they were mortals they gave her a weird sensation, she could tell they held some kind of power, but with all her wisdom and knowledge she didn't know what it was. This in itself intrigued her.

"It looks like they want my attention." She said hearing their plea.

______________________

Nanoha and Fate were about to leave when they felt the energy in the room shift. They couldn't see her, but their eyes landed on where they detected the energy.

_How interesting they can't see me, but they know I'm here._ Athena thought, reinforcing the idea that they were no ordinary mortals.

A woman, with the same likeness as the golden statue, except without the owl or shield, and with tied back brown hair with grey eyes, appeared before their eyes in golden sparkles. However, they weren't surprised from this and their reaction intrigued Athena even more.

"You wanted to see me." The goddess stated as she looked at the two women and child in the room.

"Yes, we came to ask for your help." Fate said.

Athena thought it over, _if they need my help I could use them to help me_. She inwardly smiled this would prove to be a most profitable endeavor.

"What kind of help?" She said needing to know what she was getting herself into.

Fate pulled out a golden spherical object from a special pocket on her toga.

She showed the ball to the goddess, who looked at it curiously. "We need to know how to activate this without causing trouble for this world." Fate informed her.

The goddess held the ball in her hand, she could feel a power within it similar to the strangers, but different. She had to ask as she examined the ball further "What kind of trouble can this ball do?"

She was taking a gamble on this, but figured if gods were suppose to be all knowing, then she shouldn't be too surprised on what she was about to say. "That ball can cause a dimensional tear with the right amount of energy input, but if given to much the tear will become too big and the dimension will collapse in on itself. We need to know how much energy can be safely inputted, and how to set a specific coordinate to our home world?"

Athena nodded not surprised by the information, she knew of the existence of different dimensions, but each was kept separate from the rest while being connected at the same time. It was like a wall that separated one room from the next, but was still part of the same building.

"So I take it your from another dimension." Athena said matter of factly, _that explains the weird feeling I've been getting, but it doesn't explain why they have power._ The only mortals with power that she knew of were the demigods, mortals with one godly parent. But, those two didn't emit any godly scent their power was completely different. _No matter I can still use them._

"Okay, I'm willing to help you, but before I do I need you to help me."

Nanoha and Fate looked at her curiously.

Nanoha voiced to Fate what was on both their minds,_ What kind of help could a goddess want from us?_

F: _Don't know._ _Let's find out._

"What do you want?" Nanoha asked. Athena mentally smiled, _Excellent_.

"The other gods and I are facing a dangerous God named, Dahawk, he seeks to destroy us and cover the world in blood, to build a new one of his own design." She stopped to see if they were following her, their eyes held curiosity, but also understanding. She continued, "Because we are not allowed to directly interfere with mortal lives, unless they want us too, we need to choose champions to fight in our stead."

N: _Huh? That doesn't sound right according to Gabrielle's stories they interfere and toy with people whenever they want._

Fate spoke up voicing their concern "According to an acquaintance of ours, she said that the gods toy around with people whenever they feel like it."

Athena sighed, "It is true. Some gods don't follow the laws, just like how some mortals break their own laws, but the rule still stands that a god can't interfere in a mortal's life unless asked to, and since it's not Dahawk, but his followers we are fighting against we can't directly interfere."

Now they looked at her in confusion.

Nanoha spoke up "are you telling us to change what people believe in?" She didn't like the idea, and if that was the case she wouldn't help the goddess either. They would just have to find some other way to get home.

"No. I'm not asking you to change anyone's beliefs." She paused thinking how she could explain the complexity of how a god's influence works. "Each god has influence over a certain dominion, mine is wisdom, justice, and weaving I have direct control over these subjects in every living thing in my territory. All mortals share these qualities as well, and I can influence that part of them, but they have to choose to accept my influence. For instance, if a General suddenly came up with a brilliant strategy the idea came from me guiding him toward that idea, whether he chooses to use it is entirely up to him. But, if he does choose to follow my guidance, I then have a follower. The more followers a god gains the more support he/she has making them more powerful." She looked at their faces hoping they understood what she said.

Nanoha and Fate were digesting the information mulling it over.

Nanoha then spoke wondering if she understood the goddess correctly "So, a god guides a person, but the person has to accept that guidance and if they do you gain a follower. Does that mean that a person doesn't actually have to worship you?"

"That's right. A worshipping follower is just someone, who shows thanks and gratitude for my help, but the act of choosing to follow my influence gives me my power."

Nanoha and Fate nodded, their minds now understanding what was going on. "That means Dahawk's followers would most likely be murderers." Fate stated

"They could be, but they could be anyone, who let's darkness control them." Athena was most pleased by the progress they were making, _smart mortals I like them._ "So, which one of you will want to be my champion?"

"What only one of us?"Fate asked concerned.

"Yes, a god is allowed only one champion to bond with."

"What do you mean by bonding?" Nanoha asked a bit worried, but more from curiousity.

"When a mortal accepts to be a god's champion, there is a bond between them. This allows them to have my favor, and protects them from the influence of other gods. It's a claim that your mine."

"Is it reversible?" Fate was concerned she didn't want either of them to be bonded to a god for life, and how would it affect them when they got back home.

"It's in the god's discretion."

_I don't like it Nanoha. What if she won't break it._

_Don't worry so much, I'm sure she will. Especially, since she's helping us go back home._

_Fine, then I'll do it._ She didn't want Nanoha to be claimed by anyone besides herself.

But, before Fate could voice her decision, Nanoha was already taking action "I'll do it."

Athena smiled "Great" She then summoned an amulet.

Fate was outraged and it showed _NANOHA!_

Nanoha winced, her head hurt from Fate's enraged yell, but it was too late anyway Athena's amulet was already around her neck and her body glowed gold making Fate and Vivio close their eyes from the brightness.

Nanoha felt warmth travel through her body, different from the usual fluid and wave like warmth of her magic. It was hot and shocking like she was being electrocuted, but without the pain. It was a power surge going throughout her body making her hair stand on end, and then the warmth and power suddenly receded only a small glow of it remaining near her linker core.

When the glowing stopped, Fate's anger had already vanished now more concerned with Nanoha's well being _Nanoha? You okay?_

Nanoha heard Fate's worried voice _Yes I'm fine Fate-chan. I feel no different than before other then feeling her presence within me._

Fate's face relaxed with relief, but she was still upset that Nanoha took the initiative.

"You are a most interesting person Nanoha." Athena said, now that she was bonded to the girl all her secrets and power was open to her. The girl's whole life story, her meeting with magic, the girl with blond hair and red eyes, her home world, even her feelings were all open to the goddess.

_So that's what their power is, mages, evolved mortals. How interesting I never would have thought a mortal could evolve an organ to channel the world's energy. _The goddess thought, but what she found even more interesting was the endless love the girl had for her friend, and she didn't even know it. She inwardly chuckled_ it seems the one thing that doesn't change with mortals is there lack of emotional knowledge. Maybe I should have Dite help them along._

Nanoha looked up at the goddess curious about her comment, but she didn't elaborate.

"If you ever need me just call my name, and I will help you." Athena said gazing at Nanoha. She then turned to Fate, holding up the golden ball for her to see "as for this, I will research it in the archives on Mount Olympus." She then spoke to the both of them "Dahawk's army is four days away from amazon land. They are led by an insane amazon shaman, named Alti. If you have any further questions talk to Xena. She fought them both before and I am sure she will fight them now as well. May Hermes bless your journey my champion." She looked to Nanoha as she said the last part, and then disappeared in a shower of golden sparkles.

_Well that was abrupt_ Nanoha commented.

She looked at Fate's face when she didn't give her any reaction "Are you still mad?"

Fate didn't even look at her or grace her with a response. She turned her body round and headed for the exit. Not discouraged, Nanoha ran up in front of her grabbing her shoulder's so she couldn't move, and looked into sad red eyes "I'm sorry Fate-chan."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong." Fate said in her usual soft tone.

"I'm sorry I said yes when you said you would do it. I don't know… I just… reacted." Nanoha honestly didn't know what compelled her to say yes, she just knew she didn't want Fate to be bonded to the goddess.

Fate looked at Nanoha's apologetic yet warm blue eyes, she just couldn't remain even the tiniest bit angry when gazing into those eyes. She sighed and spoke gently to her "I'm not angry Nanoha, and you really don't have to apologize. I was just being stupid. I'm sorry."

Red eyes searching for forgiveness stared at her. She embraced her in a warm hug as an answer. Long arms wrapped around her waist bringing her closer as Fate's head rested atop of hers.

They broke apart all forgiven between them.

"We stayed there a long time." Nanoha remarked gazing at the star filled sky as she walked beside Fate.

"hmm. We'll stay at an Inn in Athens, and head out for Amazon land tomorrow morning."

____________________

**Athens' Inn, Nanoha and Fate's room**

Nanoha grabbed a towel and a bottle of shampoo and soap "Fate-chan I'm heading to the bath you want to come?"

"I'll go to the bath later." She couldn't bring herself to bathe with her. She felt too awkward around her. Her face would flush red and body go hot just thinking about Nanoha's naked body she couldn't even imagine what would happen if they showered together.

"Okay." Nanoha turned her attention to her daughter lying on the bed "Vivio come on let's go shower."

Vivio picked her head up giving her mother a pleading look while she lay on the bed. As much as she loved to bathe, she was just too tired to move. "Can I take a shower later? Nanoha-mama." She said tiredly.

"You'll be asleep by then Vivio. Come on, don't you want to feel clean." Nanoha tried to persuade her.

Vivio looked to Fate for help. Fate saw Vivio's beseeching gaze and Nanoha's unrelenting insistence on bathing. She was in a tough spot she didn't want to disappoint Nanoha and she didn't want to force Vivio to go either.

She mentally sighed _there is only one way out of this, and if I have to suffer so be it. I'm strong I can surely endure it._ Fate tried to convince herself pumping herself up for the inevitable.

"On second thought I think I'll join you in that bath Nanoha." Fate said mustering up all her courage for her inner battle.

Nanoha smiled at her grateful for the support while Vivio pouted. She spoke to Vivio sweetly "Okay Vivio you have to come too now. We can't leave you alone in the room."

Vivio lay on the bed, trying to gather some energy to move, when she felt an arm under her head and legs, and then felt herself being lifted up into warm arms. She turned her head to see a pair of soft red eyes and smiled at her gratefully before resting her head on her shoulder thankful she could rest a bit.

Nanoha puffed out her cheeks "mou Fate-chan you're spoiling her."

"She's tired Nanoha. She's walked a lot lately, and I think she deserves to rest a bit." Fate's sweet yet soft voice said.

"Fine. I'll get your towels." Fate had a slight smile on her face as she waited for Nanoha to get their things.

They walked like that Vivio resting in Fate's arms while Nanoha walked beside her talking every now and then.

_____________________

**Bathhouse**

There were two giant tubs able to fit at least 50 people comfortably, but currently there were only a handful of people around.

"We came at a good time the place is practically empty." Nanoha observed a couple of decorative statues around the room and nicely tiled stone floors and tubs.

"hmm." Fate's face was collected, but she was dreading this part. A mantra of _I can do this and I did do this before_ repeating itself in her head.

Vivio was meanwhile asleep in Fate's arms. The gentle swaying of her blond mother's walking lulled the already tired girl to sleep.

Nanoha turned to Fate and Vivio noticing her sleeping daughter "Eh, she's asleep Fate-chan."

Fate looked at Nanoha a what-do-we-do expression on her face.

"You wake her up" Nanoha said in answer to her unspoken question. She then went to undress leaving Fate to deal with their daughter.

Fate sighed _I guess I was asking for that one_. The arm on her daughter's back gently rubbed circles as her voice gently coaxed the girl out of sleep "Vivio… Vivio… honey wake up we're here."

The girl in her arms stirred, but didn't wake up she was just as stubborn to wake up as the older blond when it came to sleep.

"Vivio dear it's time to wake up…Vivio… Vivio" The girl slowly roused as she heard her mother's insistent calls. She rubbed her eyes before opening them to see her mother's pleasant red eyes. She looked around the room, her mind slowly waking up as she saw her other mother already in the tub and bathing, and that they were no longer at the Inn.

Seeing her daughter was now more awake, she knelt down and placed Vivio on her feet. They then both got undressed and headed to the tub where Nanoha was bathing.

_This didn't turn out so bad, I was so preoccupied with Vivio I missed Nanoha getting undressed_, she felt both relieved and disappointed at the last thought. She shook herself out of it, and prepared for her bath.

The water was surprisingly warm as her body entered the water, the warmth relaxing her tired and sore muscles. She'd been doing more walking recently then she had in her whole life, which included all the stays she had on unadminstered planets. She assumed Nanoha was annoyed too since she hadn't flown for a good week, the longest she'd gone since her injury. And this was a first for Vivio, who was handling the whole ordeal surprisingly well. She grabbed the soap lathering up her body as she washed herself.

Nanoha had stopped bathing for a while now, her gaze completely transfixed on Fate's naked body as she walked into the tub only to slowly be concealed by the water. She would have cursed the water for covering her view, but then Fate's foamy hands touched and roamed over her body as she cleaned herself.

Nanoha's body was getting hot, her eyes darkened to a deeper blue as she felt lust and desire build up in her. _I really wish it were my hands caressing and wandering her body… What!! What! Am I thinking! That's Fate! I can't be thinking like this about her! I… I must be crazy._

Fate looked up from her bathing and by chance saw Nanoha suddenly dunk her head underwater, causing the water to ripple from the movement. _What's up with her?_ She didn't ask her though instead she turned her attention to Vivio, who was finished washing her body.

"Vivio, do you want me to wash your hair?" She kindly asked.

Vivio turned to her red-eyed mother. "hmm" came the cute sound as she nodded her head. She then sat between Fate's legs as her mother shampooed her hair.

Nanoha under the water tried to cool her raging thoughts. _I am not thinking about Fate's gorgeous and delicious body. I am not thinking about how soft her skin might feel. I am not thinking about running my hands all over her body. I am ssssoooo __**not**__ helping myself!_ The last thought was said in anger and exasperation with herself. The warm water didn't help any either. She needed something cooler much cooler like the ice in Antarctica. _Too bad I can't teleport there it would just be me the ice and no Fate._ Of course by mentioning her name the image of Fate's naked body came into her mind. _AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!_ _What do I have to do Starlight Break myself!_ She seriously contemplated that thought, _that might not be such a bad idea I should ask Raging Heart if she could do it._ She then noticed her lungs were burning from staying under too long and immediately resurfaced taking in some large gulps of air, replenishing her parched lungs.

Fate was enjoying her mother daughter bonding time with Vivio when she heard someone rasping for air. Her head turned in the direction her ears heard the sound coming from, curious red eyes spotting Nanoha sucking in air. _She must have enjoyed swimming around underwater._

She turned back to Vivio humming a tune as she washed her hair. "Okay now dunk your head Vivio."

The girl took in a large gulp of air before going underwater. The soap washed away, her mother's gentle hands ruffling her hair making sure all of it was out as her head was still beneath the water.

Now that Vivio was done bathing, Fate went back to washing her own body while watching Vivio swim around.

Nanoha decided she was done bathing and got out of the tub. The cool air felt refreshing and calmed her much better than the warm water. _I should have done this first._

She picked up the towel drying herself off and put on her toga making sure her gaze didn't stray to Fate.

"Vivio do you want to come out now?" Nanoha held her towel as her daughter stopped swimming to look at her. The girl then looked to Fate, who just dunked her head under the water.

"okay, I'm coming out" She swam to the edge and picked herself up and out of the tub as Nanoha wrapped the towel around her so she wouldn't feel cold.

She stood there letting the water to drip down before she started drying herself.

Before she could turn away, Nanoha saw Fate slowly emerge from the water like a beautiful water nymph coming out to play, her body glistening with water droplets as some of her long hair covered her breasts.

Fate passed Nanoha and grabbed her towel drying herself.

_She's trying to kill me! I know she is! With that oohh ssoo alluring and seductive body. You're not being fair Fate-chan! I just got myself under control and here you go and drive me crazy again!_ She felt like gauging her eyes out so she would never be turned on by her again. Unfortunately, or fortunately her other half would never let her do it because living in a world without being able to see Fate would kill her for sure.

"Shall we go Nanoha?" That oh so soft voice caressed her ears.

Nanoha's heated gaze landed on a now dressed Fate. "yes" her voice husky, she coughed trying to clear it before she spoke in her normal tone "yes."

Fate looked at Nanoha curiously she acted weird the whole time they were bathing together. S_he must be exhausted from the god bonding_ her mind reasoned as her caring nature kicked in_ I should do something for her._ Her mind conjured up different ideas as she walked with Nanoha and Vivio back to the Inn.

_______________________

"Sir. You ordered me to wake you up. Sir." Bardiche had no success at waking his sleepoholic master so he resorted to the big guns.

A blearing alarm shot through her head (Note: mental alarm), her body flying off the bed and landing on the floor, her sudden movement thankfully not waking the other occupant on the bed. She lifted her body off the floor, her gaze landed on a twinkling golden triangle that seemed to be laughing at her. "Thank you Bardiche" she grumbled.

"You're Welcome. Sir." The mechanical tone held a note of merit as it replied.

She grabbed their money pouch and left the room.

_____________________

_You know Bardiche it's a good thing we're in the city. The market is open even at this crazy hour._

_Yes. Sir._ Came Bardiche usual reply in her head.

She went over to a stall selling all types of things one particular thing caught her eye. It was a brown teddy bear but not just any teddy bear it was a teddy bear that reminded her of Vivio, with its one blue and green eye. It also had a very cute and happy smile on its face that Fate just couldn't resist picking it up.

"How much for this?" She showed the bear to the merchant.

"One coin. I've had a hard time selling that bear. You're the first to show any interest."

"I'll take it." Fate gave the happy man a coin, and went to the next stall.

She looked around a couple of them. Some selling exotic wares others just plain old normal things, but she didn't find anything that caught her eye. She was about to give up when she went to one last stall located far from the others in an almost secluded area of the market place.

"How can I help you miss?" A gypsy looking old lady in purple clothing said.

Fate eyed her wears as she answered, "I'm looking for something special"

"hmm. Something for a lover, perhaps." The gypsy saw the blush on her face and had to smile, young love was just so sweet. She then bent down to grab a special box and placed it on the table. "I think you might find something in here"

Fate glanced at all kinds of jewelry of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Then an intricately, yet simple designed necklace grabbed her attention. The necklace held a small soaring phoenix with blue and red feathers. It looked like it was alive she could almost see the fire in its eyes.

She held the necklace in her hand mesmerized by it.

"mmm. The phoenix said to be reborn from the ashes, a strong bird with fire and passion. That particular necklace has been charmed by a great sorcerer. I hear the wearer will be protected from any dangers of the mystical sort." The gypsy said in her raspy voice.

Fate didn't care much for any mystic charms. The bird itself seemed to be calling out to her "how much?"

"hmm. For that 10 coins."

Fate looked through her pouch and winced if she bought it they would have no money for tomorrow. She was putting it down when she heard the old woman again "but for you 5 coins."

Fate jerked her head up not sure she heard right "What?"

"5 coins" The old lady stated again.

"Really." She looked at her skeptically.

"That's my offer take it or leave it."

"I'll take it." Fate said quickly, unable to believe her luck.

She handed the lady the coins and then walked back to the Inn smiling all the way there.

_____________________

When she entered her room, she saw Nanoha and Vivio still asleep. _Excellent_. She tiptoed to Vivio's bed where she found her daughter sleeping on her side. Gently she lifted one of the girl's arms and placed the bear under it so it ended up that Vivio was hugging the bear.

She then tip toed to the table on the right side of the room near Nanoha's and her bed, and placed the newly bought necklace next to Raging Heart. Finished with all the preparations, she silently walked to her bed gently getting in without disturbing Nanoha and shut her eyes catching whatever remaining sleep was left to her.

A couple of hours later Nanoha woke up, finding herself in the same position as the last couple of days, with Fate's body hugging her own. _I'm getting used to this. It's so comforting and warm._ She gently got out of bed careful not to disturb Fate, and went through her usual morning routine.

_Huh? Whats this?_ Nanoha picked up the necklace next to Raging Heart. She somehow liked it and felt very comforted by it. Its eyes looked at her with a fierce look that reminded her of Fate when she was being protective. "Where did you come from?"

"Fate. My master." She suddenly heard Raging Heart, but didn't know what she said still absorbed by the necklace in her hand.

"What?"

"Fate."

Nanoha glanced at Fate's sleeping form "When did she have time to buy a necklace? She was with me the whole day."

"At night while you were sleeping. Master."

Nanoha had a surprised look on her face. She didn't even feel her leave the bed. Then she smiled at the gesture, t_hat sly girl. I'll have her help me put it on when she wakes up. _She placed Raging Heart around her neck and went about her morning exercise.

When she re-entered reality, she saw a very excited Vivio in front of her holding a cute bear with two different colored eyes. "Thank-you Nanoha-mama! I really love it!"

_Looks like my sweet Fate-chan was very busy yesterday night._ "I'm glad you like it Vivio, but I didn't get it." The girl was confused a moment before she turned to the sleeping figure on the bed.

She would have gone running to her other mother jumping with excitement if it weren't for Nanoha's voice stopping her "Let her sleep Vivio. She must be tired from yesterday."

She saw the girl restrain her excitement and turned back to Nanoha a bit calmer "Can we go eat breakfast?"

"Yes we can." Nanoha stood up taking Vivio's hand and quietly left the room to eat.

Fate was just waking up when a little bundle of joy pounced on her knocking out her air. "Thank-you Fate-mama! I love you and this too!" she held the teddy bear to her face.

"I'm glad you like it Vivio, and I love you too, but can you move a bit I can't breathe." Fate gently told her.

Vivio immediately jumped off her a worried look on her face "I'm sorry. Are you okay? Fate-mama."

Fate took a deep breath now that she was able to breathe again, and ruffled Vivio's hair giving her a bright smile "I'm fine, and you shouldn't say sorry you did nothing wrong."

Vivio smiled relieved and glad she was alright. She then left her to play with her new bear.

Nanoha saw the whole scene from the doorway, and the interaction was just so darn cute her eyes moistened with tears of happiness. She wiped them away.

"Someone was busy last night." Nanoha's voice playfully scolded.

Fate looked sheepishly at her. "yes…well… did you see yours?" She changed the subject.

"Yes I did, and I love it. It remains me of you Fate-chan." She said tenderly.

She looked confused "of me?"

"Yes your protectiveness."

That's not what she was going for, but she didn't care as long as Nanoha liked it.

"Can you help me put it on?" Nanoha held the necklace in front of her.

She took it, and Nanoha turned around showing her the back of her elegant neck. Her arms moved from Nanoha's front to back enjoying the contact as she clasped the necklace closed around her neck.

Nanoha turned around a beaming smile on her face "Now I have Fate-chan with me all the time." The necklace looked good on her, but then something else caught her attention.

Nanoha saw Fate's face change from happy to inquisitive. She then brought a hand up under her neck moving the necklaces to look closer at something "What is it Fate-chan?"

"You have a small owl tattooed under your neck." She informed her, giving Nanoha a questioning look.

Nanoha was taken aback "what? I never went to get a tattoo."

Fate touched the spot under her "well its right there."

Nanoha tried to look, but couldn't see anything "do you have some kind of mirror? I can't see it."

She didn't have a mirror, but she used the next best thing. She went to her bag and took out a dagger, the blade gleaming and polished would be able to reflect the image. She held it up horizontally tilting it at various angles until Nanoha could see a distorted image of a small black owl tattooed under her neck. It could go almost unnoticed with Raging Heart and the phoenix covering it, but she didn't know how she got it.

"I have no idea how that got there. I didn't have it when we were on Validus. And it's not like there are any tattoo shops here." It suddenly dawned on her the image of the owl was similar to the amulet in Athena's hand. "I think this is Athena's mark."

Fate thought about it_, Athena did have an owl, and Nanoha really didn't have any tattoos beforehand so it must be the god bonding_. She became furious, before she knew Nanoha was bonded, now there was a glaring mark on her neck to constantly remind her Nanoha was not hers.

She wore a calm and understanding mask as she spoke "Yeah, you're right."

"So how about breakfast?" She said with false cheer. Nanoha could see the pain in her eyes, but didn't understand why it was there _I thought she forgave me._

"We already ate Fate-chan." Nanoha was upset. Her best friend wasn't confiding in her, and she didn't like it they always talked no matter what was bothering them.

Fate's anger vanished upon seeing Nanoha's upset face. _She knows me to well._ She held Nanoha in a tender embrace whispering in her ear "it's not you, so stop worrying. I'm fine."

Her words were genuinely calm and affectionate, her embrace safe and warm. Nanoha's insides were melting, her knees almost buckling if it weren't for Fate's strong arms holding her and gently giving her support. Too soon for her liking Fate released her "Okay." caring red eyes gazed at her as Fate cupped her cheek her thumb gently gliding over her skin.

_She really knows how to make me feel good._ "Okay." Nanoha softly complied, lost in her touch.

"Good" Fate pulled her hand away, causing Nanoha to be forcefully pulled from her surreal world of Fate like a bucket of ice-cold water spilling over her head.

She was disoriented, still standing where Fate left her, "are you coming?" her head turned in the direction of the voice, her eyes spotted Fate and Vivio standing by the doorway waiting for her.

"Yeah." She rushed over to them.


	8. Chapter 8

I apologize for the long wait. I've been really busy and I can't promise when the next installment will come out. I have a couple chapters written a couple months back, I'm just in the process of editing them, which takes a long time.

Here is the long awaited chapter. I broke it into three parts since its so long.

* * *

Chp. 7 Preparing for battle

Part 1

Amazon land, Afternoon

'_Sir. Six women. Above us.'_ Bardiche warned Fate as Raging Heart warned Nanoha. They both stopped and clasped their hands over their heads just like Xena taught them before, Vivio following her mothers example.

Recognizing the peace sign, six women descended from the trees. Upon spotting the familiar faces of the trespassers, they removed their masks and lowered their weapons.

Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio recognized three familiar looking amazons. The three women: Rhea, Lily, and Talia, instantly ran up to Vivio each picking her up and giving her a bone-crushing hug.

Rhea eased up on her, allowing Vivio to breath. "Sorry about that. You're just so cute." Rhea said sweetly, restraining herself from pinching the heaving girl's rosy cheeks.

Her mothers affectionately gazed upon the cute scene; joyful that Vivio made some nice friends.

The other three older amazons rolled their eyes at the rambunctious trio. They could be a handful, but they were friendly and followed orders well.

A middle-aged amazon with faint wrinkles near her brown eyes spoke to the other two adults, while the younger amazons caught up with Vivio.

"I'm Edena, leader of this patrol. It's good to see you back again."

"Nice to meet you Edena. Can you take us to Xena? We need to talk with her." Nanoha explained.

"Lily! Rhea!" Edena called to the younger amazons playing with Vivio. They immediately stood to attention waiting for their orders. "Escort our guests to the Amazon Village." They nodded happily while Talia stood by disappointed she would be separated from her friends.

"I'll see you guys at our meeting spot k." Talia said as her friends nodded their heads in agreement.

* * *

They were waiting in the hut they used before when they heard a knock at the door. Fate opened it. Pleased to see Xena, she stepped aside and let her in.

"I hear you wanted to see me." Xena's low voice rumbled.

"Yeah, it's about something we found out while we were in Athens." Fate informed her while they took their seats at the table. They told her what happened leaving out Nanoha's bonding.

Xena sat stoically, her eyes darkening as dark memories of Alti and Dahawk resurfaced. "This isn't good. I have to talk with Gabrielle about this, and we'll see what we can do." Her seat scrapped against the wooden boards and she stood up to leave when Nanoha's voice halted her movements.

"Before you go can you tell us about them, Alti and Dahawk, Fate and I need to know what were up against."

Xena looked at them a moment of sorrow and anger passing through her stoic mask before it was gone, making them wonder if they had imagined it. "You want to fight against them?"

"Yes, we can help you out in this fight."

Xena nodded, reclaiming her seat. _Having another two skilled warriors wouldn't hurt_. "I'm not as good a story teller as Gabrielle, but I'll try. Alti as you know is an amazon shaman, I met her back when I wanted to conqueror the world. She's cruel, ruthless, and power hungry. I eventually threw her out of my army, afraid she'd turn on me. Her powers are unique she can make your mind and body live through past pains. She even was able to kill people by making them relieve deaths from their past lives." She paused to see if they understood, but met puzzled faces.

"Can you clarify her power I don't understand how that works?" Nanoha said her instructor's mind at work trying to analyze the power.

Xena looked like she was in thought before she answered, "From what I remember her telling me, her power works by her mind entering your soul and then forcing it to go through a past experience so that your mind and body live through the pain."

"That doesn't make sense how can she cause a past event to happen in the present, and what's this about past lives? I have heard of the idea, but according to you it actually exists." Fate reasoned.

Xena sighed "I know it sounds impossible, but believe me she can do it. I have been on the receiving end of her attacks, and they're not pleasant. As to past lives, I don't know if it exists, she claimed to have killed the people I saw using their past deaths. I don't know if it's true because she never used that specific attack on me."

The confusion was still there, but they decided to take her word on it, and just continued listening.

Seeing they didn't have any more questions she continued, "Gabrielle and I were on our way to Britannia to stop Caesar from conquering the land when she got caught up in a cult of Dahawk. She ended up losing her blood innocence and pregnant with his child. A couple of days later she gave birth to a baby girl.

The baby's growth was unnatural, and the people we took refuge with said she would bring destruction to the world. At first, I didn't believe them. But then not long after her birth when her body was around three, I found her on top of a dead man, who suffocated to death, her hands holding onto the necklace that killed him. From then on, I was convinced she was evil and told Gabrielle we had to kill her. Of course being a mother, she didn't want to kill her child. So, she deceived me and left the child to drift in a basket in a stream."

Xena's face saddened considerably as she continued, "The next time I met her, we were on Amazon land, and she was around 12. She killed my son, and Gabrielle then realized her daughter was more her father's key to this world than hers. She poisoned the girl. But, that didn't stop Dahawk, his daughter somehow returned to life using Gabrielle's appearance, the resemblance close enough to mistake them for twins. She gathered a following for him, but when we heard she was alive again we ended up killing her and her son the destroyer by pitting them against each other, and that's the last we've heard of her. While all of this was happening Dahawk fed off the destruction, pain, and sorrow that Hope, Dahawk's daughter, wrought here and between Gabrielle and I.

I don't know what his exact power is all I know is that Hope, was able to move objects with her mind, and that they were able to bring out the darkness in people's hearts."

Xena finally finished her tale. Exhausted by the emotions she had to go through again to tell it. Those moments were one of the darkest of her life, and she deeply regretted how she handled the situation and the way she treated Gabrielle.

Nanoha's tears flowed freely her heart wrenching from the obvious pain in the warrior's voice and the story itself. She felt for them. She couldn't possibly understand the feelings of losing her child, but she knew that she was devastated when Scagletti took Vivio away from her and brainwashed the girl to fight against her.

Fate's eyes, although not crying, were moist. She didn't know how she felt about what she heard, but she did know if anything should happen to either Nanoha or Vivio she would have gone berserker.

"That's so sad" Nanoha's pained filled voice choked out.

Fate held her hand the whole while that they heard the second half of the story, but now she pulled Nanoha onto her lap holding her close and running her hand through her hair trying to sooth her.

Nanoha held onto Fate, her presence anchoring her, calming her more than any nonsensical words ever could.

Xena saw their closeness, and thought of Gabrielle, _I have to talk to her_. She stood up. Fate's red eyes catching the movement gazed at her. They had a brief silent understanding pass between them before she left the hut.

* * *

**"****I need to speak with Gabrielle." Xena demanded** to the guards standing beside the door of the Queen's consul hut. The amazons moved letting her through. When the warrior was that serious no one could stand in her way, even if they wanted too, following her command was the least painful route.

Gabrielle spotted Xena in the doorway motioning her to come over. She mentally smiled in relief, she didn't know how Ephiny, her regent, dealt with all the paperwork and the amazon elders every day, it was just so utterly boring.

"If you'll excuse me ladies I have other matters to attend to." Gabrielle stood up, quieting the discussion between the amazon elders.

"But, we really must finish this." An old amazon said strictly.

"I think placing a regulation on hunting is a fabulous idea. You may put it in effect. Now, I really must be going." Gabrielle said indifferently while quickly hurrying to her savior. The Amazon consul members looked amongst each other bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

_________________

"Thank you Xena. You saved me. I don't think I could have listened to another dispute about food and resources." Gabrielle then noticed the dark look and grew serious. "What's wrong?"

Xena didn't answer. She merely took Gabrielle's hand, and led her to the Queen's hut where they both stayed when they were on amazon land. They stood in silence for a long time, Xena trying to figure out how to break the news gently to Gabrielle, who was getting impatient. "Spit it out Xena. What's wrong?"

Xena's twin glaciers of ice blue gazed into concerned green ones, not finding any other way she choose the direct approach "Dahawk is back, with an army led by Alti. They're 3 days away from here."

Gabrielle looked at her a subtle ache in her eyes as she hoped she had heard wrong "what?"

"We have to prepare for an attack Gabrielle."

"Why?" She couldn't seem to process the information.

"I just told you Dahak's army is going to attack in 3 days" Xena said impatiently.

"How… How do you know?!" Gabrielle yelled, feeling angry, _why is she trying to torture me, Dahawk is gone Hercules took care of him._

Xena took a deep breath to remain calm, Gabrielle was being too stubborn, "Look I know you want to run away and hide. But, you have to stand up and fight, don't let fear control you."

"I'm not Xena I just want to know, why you're so sure Dahawk will attack in 3 days." Gabrielle said like the calm before a storm.

"I heard the news from Nanoha and Fate, who were informed by Athena."

"Since when do you believe the word of a god Xena?! They could just be toying with us! You of all people should know that!" Gabrielle said absolutely livid.

"The gods wouldn't be making this up just for their own entertainment. Dahawk is as much of a treat to them as he is to you and me." Xena ended in a soft tone.

She could no longer deny it. Dahawk was coming, no matter how much she wished he wasn't. Her knees buckled the realization to much of a burden. She felt herself falling, but she never met the ground the strong arms of a dark haired warrior supporting her weight since her legs no longer could.

"I can't… I can't do this Xena." Xena heard the pain and despair, and a smoldering rage filled her. _I'll make you regret coming back._ She pushed murderous thoughts down as she concentrated on Gabrielle, gently setting her on their bed.

"I know you've gone through a lot, but I know you're strong enough to deal with this Gabrielle." Xena said gently while holding her close, her hand running through golden locks. "You need to announce an impending attack. We don't have much time to prepare."

Gabrielle nodded, the movement tickling Xena's skin. "I'll go find Ephiny and call an emergency meeting. Let me just… gather my strength." She said weakly, feeling the arms around her tighten easing her anxiety and replacing it with a growing sense of security that only Xena could bring.

She slowly drew back from the warrior, and smiled up, her eyes shining with determination. Any fear or pain gone or deeply hidden that not even Xena, who knew her like she knew herself, could tell that it was there a moment ago.

Xena smiled proudly at her as Gabrielle stood up "thank-you Xena I really needed that." She then turned and exited the hut, Xena following close behind.

As they walked in a comfortable silence, a familiar curly blond head popped out from a hut ahead of them "Ephiny!"

The woman turned her head in the direction of the call to see her queen and her companion coming closer. "What is it?"

"I need you to gather all the amazons at the village center I have an announcement to make." Gabrielle's serious tone broached no argument, but Ephiny wondered what could be so urgent that a village meeting had to take place._ I guess I'll find out soon enough._

"I will get on it right away my Queen." Ephiny bowed her head and ran off to do as instructed.

Gabrielle in the meantime went to prepare, changing into the queen's regal clothes minus the mask.

Nanoha and Fate still hadn't moved from the position Xena had left them, with Nanoha on Fate's lap. They were in peaceful silence when they heard three loud, high pitched, and abrupt horn like sounds.

Nanoha's head was lying on Fate's chest when she heard and felt Fate's voice rumble "Shall we find out what's going on?"

"I don't know I feel too comfortable to move." She said not moving from her spot.

Fate felt a wave of tenderness surround her, and suddenly stood up bringing Nanoha's body along with her.

Startled by the sudden movement Nanoha instinctively wrapped her arms around Fate's neck as her feet currently dangled in midair "Fate-chan! What are you doing?! Put me down!"

Fate made her way towards the bed as she spoke mischievously, "you said you were comfortable. So I didn't want to move you. But my back was starting to hurt," Red eyes glanced at annoyed blue eyes, making her inwardly smile, "that chair isn't that comfortable you know." She redirected her attention forward just when Nanoha was about to speak, irritating her dangling friend further.

"So I figure if we were going to be lazy I might as well be comfortable too." She said while gently laying Nanoha down, as a mother would an infant, before joining her.

Nanoha turned onto her side about to speak her mind when playful red eyes twinkled up at her and a light teasing voice played in her ears "is there something you wanted, Nanoha?" The annoyance of being treated like a child receded as the guilty pleasure she felt in being carried like a princess took over upon seeing Fate's amusement.

"If you weren't so cute I could smack you, Fate-chan." She said in playful irritation, while seeking the other's hand.

"It was either I carried you or the floor. I think I chose the most comfortable option." Their fingers met and danced with each other as their friendly banter continued.

"You could have told me to move."

"But where's the fun in that." Fate said teasingly, but in truth, she didn't even think of that as an option. She merely acted unwilling to let Nanoha go.

Nanoha stuck her tongue out at her "your impossible." She then laid her head down in the crook under Fate's head one arm resting across her belly as Fate's arm wrapped around her waist.

"Comfortable." Fate's comforting voice rumbled in her ear.

"Hmm." She mumbled back, suddenly feeling tired.

They rested like that while the amazons were briefed outside.

* * *

The crowd chattered amongst themselves as they waited for their Queen to arrive.

Gabrielle walked up on the dais raising her hand to quiet down the amazons. She projected her voice as she talked allowing everyone to hear her clearly, "Amazons! I have some bad news. An army of Dahawk's, an evil god, led by the shaman Alti-"

Upon hearing the name, some amazons whispered amongst themselves recalling her banishment from the Amazon nation in the north.

"3 days from here is approaching. Because of this, I'm afraid I have to call off the rest of the festival."

At this, an outcry passed amongst the amazons protesting the declaration.

Gabrielle raised her hand again trying to calm them down, but it took the bellow of the ram's horn to quiet them. "I understand that the festival of Artemis is sacred. However, if we continue in celebration while the enemy closes in on us we will surely find ourselves dead. We have to mobilize quickly and prepare for battle, and for that, I need every Amazon focused and ready to fight. Are you with me!"

The amazons roared thrusting their fists up in the air. They soon settled down as Gabrielle held her hand up "Good. Then go to your respective posts, we're now at war." Gabrielle walked off the dias signaling the end of her speech, and the amazons dispersed some going on patrol, others meeting with their superiors, while those that didn't fight went to prepare the healing huts, or gathered and prepared food for the soon to be hungry stomachs.

Tired green eyes met proud blue "you did well." The familiar low voice reassured her.

Gabrielle smiled tiredly, "Thanks. I need to go call a war console meeting .You coming?"

"Yes, I'll meet you at the console room. I have to go do something." Seeing Gabrielle was fine with it, she walked off heading in the opposite direction of her friend.

* * *

They were drifting between sleep and wakefulness when there was a knock at the door. Roused by the sound, but remaining unmoving, Nanoha's lazy voice softly greeted Fate "are you going to get that?"

"I don't want to." Came the sleepy reply.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"It's either you or me. You decide." Nanoha told Fate, remaining unmoving, eyes closed.

Fate lay on the bed hoping the person at the door would soon leave.

Unbeknownst to them the door opened.

Seeing no one at the door, Xena looked down spotting a little blond girl with hetercromic eyes smiling up at her, a cute "hello" greeting her.

"Hello, may I come in?" she asked politely.

Vivio moved aside allowing her to step into the room, and see Fate and Nanoha curled up against each other on the bed. _Now I know why it took so long for the door to open._

Of course, her outward appearance remained neutral.

"It stopped." Fate said her eyes closed.

"hmm, maybe they gave up." Nanoha chorused.

Xena stood amused, but didn't make her presence known. Vivio saved her the trouble, by walking up to the bed and shaking the shoulder of the closest person to her, which happened to be Fate.

Disturbed by the shaking Fate turned her head in the direction it was coming from, giving Vivio a questioning look when she saw her.

"Fate-mama, Xena's here." She informed her.

_Huh? When and how did she…_ realization dawned on her _while Nanoha and I were busy *cough lazy*_ her mind interjected while she plowed through paying no attention to it,_ Vivio must have opened the door_. Then she became aware of the position she was in, _I am in bed with Nanoha and she's waiting there watching_!

A tomato seemed to replace her usual pale complexion, which quickly returned as she shrugged off her predicament with a false sense of calm. She gently shook Nanoha stopping when curious blue eyes stared at her.

"We have company."

Confused, Nanoha gently removed herself from Fate to see that the warrior was indeed standing in front them. Her face became rosy as she realized what they must have looked like.

Meanwhile, Fate made her way over to the warrior, Nanoha soon following suit once she regained her composure.

"Sorry about that. We were both tired from our trip." Fate exclaimed.

The warrior nodded in understanding. "You said you were going to fight," seeing their nods of agreement she continued, "then come with me. Gabrielle's having a war counsel."

"Now?" Nanoha questioned.

"Yes."

'_What do we do with Vivio? We need someone to watch her while we're gone.'_

'_Too bad Zafira isn't here.'_ Fate mentally sighed.

After a couple of moments of thought, an idea hit Nanoha, '_how about one of those three amazons Vivio's friends with.'_

'_Good idea, except how do we find them? For all we know they could be on patrol.'_

They ignored Xena's presence completely as they continued thinking and discussing.

Xena waited, getting impatient at their usual staring contest, or 'silent communication' as Gabrielle liked to call it, didn't seem to end anytime soon.

Fed up she interrupted, "Is there some problem?"

Startled, they glanced at her, Nanoha voicing what was in their minds "Yeah. We need someone to watch Vivio."

Xena mentally sighed in exasperation, _That's what took them._ "That shouldn't be a problem, wait a moment and I'll have someone here shortly."

Not waiting for any acknowledgement from them, she left the hut only to return moments later with a randomly passing Amazon in tow.

"Is she alright?" Xena asked a bit impatiently.

Nanoha critically eyed the dazed face of a brown haired, brown-eyed teenager, who was still trying to get over the fact that she was outside one moment minding her own business when a random hand suddenly grabbed her and dragged her into the hut the next.

"What's your experience with kids?" Nanoha demanded using her instructor's voice.

The girl recognizing a commanding tone instinctively stood to attention, her mind crystal clear as she stared directly into Nanoha's blue eyes addressing her question with a curt yet thorough response "Some ma'am."

"Do you like kids?" Nanoha continued.

"Yes ma'am"

"Do you consider yourself responsible?"

"Yes ma'am"

"What did you do responsibly?"

"Whatever I am ordered to do. And once a week polishing and sharpening of weapons in the artillery hut."

"Are you able to handle a 10 year old girl, being firm when needed?"

The girl unsure, hesitated "I… think, ma'am"

Xena moved over to Fate as Nanoha continued her intense interrogation of the amazon. "Is she always like this?"

"Only to new potential babysitters. Vivio is precious to both of us, so she wants someone able and competent to watch over her, when we aren't around." Fate informed, the enforcer in her enjoying Nanoha's style of interrogation.

"Okay. I think you'll do." Nanoha said finished with her questioning.

"Thank you ma'am I won't let you down." Nanoha smiled pleased with the amazon's answer.

Nanoha turned her attention to her daughter, who watched the question-answer session amusedly.

"Vivio." She said kindly bending down to her level.

"Yes mama?"

"Fate-mama and I have to leave now, but…" Nanoha looked up at the amazon sheepishly "I never got your name."

Fate held in her laughter. '_After all those questions, you forgot to ask for her name. '_

Nanoha heard the laughter in Fate's voice, and responded in kind, '_Oh hush, you.'_

"Galya"

She nodded and turned back to Vivio "Galya will be watching you."

Vivio pouted. "Can't I come with you, mommy?" She put on her best, most irresistible, puppy dogface.

Fate broke down first in front of its power "Nanoha maybe she can come?"

Nanoha, who had a heart of steel when it came down to it, was immune to the look "No. Vivio."

Impossibly, Vivio cranked up the power: her pouting lips trembled slightly and a misty sheen coated her big googoo eyes intensifying the pleadingly look. Xena, who was rarely fazed, blinked; a small twinge pricking her heart before it disappeared.

Fate, interrupted again, falling into the hypnotic look Vivio emanated, "Nanoha maybe she-" she paused, her body chilled, as the spell broke, a stronger scarier power enchaining her. Two ominously sparkling sapphire orbs glared at her, promising unpleasant happenings if she didn't remain quiet, and to preserve her own happiness she most certainly did.

Xena noted the interaction with amusement. _She's completely whipped._

"You can put that face away Vivio. It's still no." Nanoha said firmly.

Vivio's head drooped in defeat.

Fate jumped in trying to cheer her up while remaining on Nanoha's good side, "We won't be long Vivio. You'll see we will be back before you know it, and you'll have lots of fun with Galya better than being bored at a meeting."

Vivio looked up at her blond mother a little teary eyed "really?" She said in a small voice.

"Really." Fate bent down to give her a reassuring hug. "We okay?"

"Yeah" although still upset, she took her softer mother's words to heart, raising her spirits. _I'll see them soon, and I really don't want to be at a boring adult meeting._

"Good" Fate ruffled her hair and stood up to see a smiling Nanoha looking pleased. She mirrored her, and they gazed at each other for a moment in content.

"So can we go now?" Xena said impatiently, unable to stand the mushiness any longer.

They nodded, leaving the hut, and Galya and Vivio together.

* * *

AN: This is for Neyo, who reminded me of your agonizing wait. I hadn't realized how much time went by since the last update.


	9. Chapter 9

Part 2

**Nighttime**

Two guards stood in front of the entranceway to the war consul hut, the spears in their hands forming an X formation in front of the fur-covered opening, which served as a door. Upon noticing Xena stride toward them, they promptly parted the spears allowing her entrance before quickly resuming their post, effectively blocking Nanoha and Fate from entering.

"Can you let us pass through?" Nanoha asked politely.

"I'm afraid not. Only Amazons or Amazon leaders are allowed entry."

Hearing the confrontation Xena backtracked. From behind, she lay a hand on each of the guards' shoulders startling them. "Let them through their with me." She commanded.

Not wishing to upset the warrior, they hastily moved aside allowing Nanoha and Fate entrance, and into a heated debate between the Amazon elders and the younger amazons, which soon quieted once their presence was noticed.

One of the elder amazons with some faint wrinkles across her forehead, crow's feet around her blazing blue eyes, and a ponytail of long gray hair, stood up in outrage. "This is no place for outsiders! Leave at once!"

Gabrielle's polite yet commanding tone gently scolded the amazon elder "Lire, that is no way to speak to our guests."

The old women bowed her head to her queen, but defended her actions "My apologies, Queen Gabrielle. But, this is a war counsel amongst amazons not outsiders and according to amazon law-"

She was interrupted by her queen, "I am very much aware of the law, Lire. However, Xena's knowledge will be useful to our cause."

"Xena is not the issue for she is your consort that makes her an Amazon.-"

_Consort? Are they married?_ Fate glanced between Xena and Gabrielle, an image of Nanoha and her at the alter emerging. _No! Our relationship isn't like that! _Another part of her interrupted_ But you want it to be._ She listened with half an ear to the world outside, her internal conflict between her desires and reality proved more distracting then she liked.

"- I was addressing the two behind her."

The attention in the room shifted to Fate and Nanoha's neutral expressions.

Gabrielle mentally sighed, some of her elders were sticklers for tradition and law, _I hope Xena can come up with a good excuse for this_. "Xena, care to explain."

Xena calmly explained, even though she was utterly annoyed "I'm sure you are aware of their skills, after seeing them win against your best amazons and even me. We can use that to our advantage and they themselves want to join our fight, but in order for this to work, they need to know the amazon territory and way. There's no better place to learn then right here and now. You have any objections?" She targeted her question to the elder, her tone daring the Amazon to challenge her.

Seeing the elder was going to in deed object Fate stepped in front of Xena "Look if it's any consolation, Nanoha and I have experience leading squadrons and strategizing battle plans, and I have to agree with Xena in order for us to fight well we need to know what's going on."

"That's all well and good, but you're still not an amazon." Lire stubbornly persisted.

Xena gave Gabrielle a pointed look telling her to do something "Look how about we put it to a vote, all in favor say 'Aie'"

A chorus of Aie's went around the room except for three out of the seven amazons. "The 'Aie's have it. They stay. Now let's get down to business."

Lire fumed she couldn't believe her follow amazons, _the young ones have no respect for our traditions and laws but I am even more surprised by my fellow elder voting against me. _She never did voice her opinion considering she was outnumbered and her protest would have landed on deaf ears.

Epinon, the weapon master, signaled for Nanoha and Fate to join in by making room for them in between her and another young amazon. They went to sit there while Xena sat between Gabrielle and the elder, who voted in their favor.

Some maps and amazon masks decorated the brown walls of the hut. In the center was a round wooden table big enough to sit 10 people. Oil lamps scattered around the room softly illuminated the strewn maps, depicting amazon territory, lying across the table's surface. The seating arrangement around the table was divided, with the younger amazons on the left side and the elders on the right with Gabrielle and Xena separating the two sides at one point on the circle.

Nanoha and Fate studied the maps, reading the Greek lettering with the help of their devices, which had a unique built in program that allowed the devices to decipher any language whether the programmer knew it or not, and input the knowledge into their users minds. This allowed the user to communicate in the natives own tongue and written language without the hassle of learning each individual language of every culture, and was part of the reason why the TSAB was so successful in managing all the worlds in the universe.

"Before we walked in I overheard your debate about whether or not to assist the Centaurs in battle." Xena started off, all eyes staring at her.

"Yes, the elders are against it, while I and the other amazons think it would be beneficial if we work together." Gabrielle recounted.

_No surprise there_. Xena thought. She whispered into Gabrielle's ear, "did you send them a message?"

"Yes. They should have already received it." Gabrielle whispered back.

Xena nodded then turned her attention to the awaiting group "Alti is coming from the Northwest so she'll have to pass through Centaur land first before reaching us. As you know Centaur land is all open fields, and for an Amazon the best place of attack is from the trees."

The amazons nodded their heads in agreement.

"If we send amazons to Centaur land, we'll be at a disadvantage fighting wise, however if we place Amazon archers here" She placed her finger on the junction between Centaur and Amazon land "we can fight from the trees picking off some of her men as the Centaur's deal with the rest on the ground."

No one objected there was no need to. The plan was logical and advantageous.

"Xena that won't stop her. She outnumbers us and the Centaurs combined." Gabrielle's said in concern.

"I know. I'm planning on setting traps beneath the ground that should cut down a good portion of her army."

Nanoha and Fate were impressed it was a good plan, if everything worked out.

Nanoha spoke up "What kind of traps are you setting?"

"Spiked trenches and deep pits. I'll have the Centaurs strategically placed to lure them in. After that, the battle should consist of open field combat. The Centaurs will continue their ground attack and we can send some of our best ground fighters to assist them while archers cover them. We can't let Alti beat the Centaur's if we do we'll most likely be next. It's best if we work together to defend both our lands." Xena added to persuade the elders.

"Very well Xena, we'll do it your way. But if we lose too many amazons we'll pull back and continue our fight in the forest." Lire commented.

"Then are we all in agreement?" Gabrielle asked looking at each amazons face.

No one objected. "Good. Then meeting is adjourned."

Each amazon slowly got up and left the room leaving Gabrielle and Xena behind to talk with the still seated Nanoha and Fate.

"Is there something on your minds?" Gabrielle asked them.

"Not necessarily your plan is well thought out. I just can't help but think what if she doesn't go through Centaur land and head straight here?" Nanoha said.

Xena answered confidently "she won't, she'll want to attack the Amazon's from Centaur land because even with a large army they are at a disadvantage when fighting against Amazon's on their own turf."

"I am aware that fighting anyone on their opponent's home ground is disadvantageous, however you said she was an amazon. So, she has the advantage of knowing how an amazon fights. She can use that knowledge to her advantage, and most likely be successful in her attack." Nanoha continued.

"You raise good points Nanoha. But, I know from experience she won't attack unless she thinks she'll win, even with her knowledge on Amazon fighting style. She likes to be subtle so she would most likely smoke the Amazon's out from the trees and kill them when they're on open ground." Xena answered.

"hmm." _That would be the most efficient and effective_ _plan _Nanoha thought in response to Xena's answer_._

"So is that all?" Gabrielle asked, making sure there were no lose ends.

"Yeah, unless Fate-chan has something to say" Nanoha said looking at Fate, who was unusually quiet throughout the meeting. _It's seems like something is on her mind._

Fate shook her head from side to side "No. I'm good."

Nanoha looked at her curiously unconvinced, but Fate didn't notice, seemingly distracted by whatever thoughts were racing through her mind.

"Okay, then I'm going to hit the sack." Gabrielle said as she stood up, Nanoha and Fate following suit.

Xena grabbed their attention before they left, "I'm having a training session tomorrow. You going to be there?"

"Okay. What time?" Nanoha answered for the both of them.

"Early morning, it will run till noon. I want the other amazons to know what is expected of them." Xena replied.

Nanoha and Fate nodded their heads in confirmation, and made their way out with Xena and Gabrielle behind them.

They walked for a bit when Fate's voice entered Nanoha's mind. _I'll meet you at the hut okay Nanoha._ Fate stepped back and away from Nanoha.

_What? Where are you going?_ Nanoha turned her head her eyes following Fate's retreating back.

_I won't be long._

Nanoha sighed and continued on her way back to the hut alone, thinking about Fate's weird behavior.

Fate spotted the dark haired warrior walking beside a shorter blond and made her way over to them. "Xena, can I talk with you?"

Xena and Gabrielle turned to the source of the voice. "What is it?"

"Just something I'd like to know… can we… talk in private." Fate's red eyes glanced toward Gabrielle nervously.

Taking the hint, Gabrielle stretched and yawned, "I'm going to hit the sack. I'll see you soon Xena. Good Night Fate."

"Good Night" Fate said relieved.

Xena watched Gabrielle's turned back for a while, mentally shaking her head at her actions. She turned her attention back to a fidgeting Fate "Is there something wrong?"

Fate glanced around nervously _maybe this isn't such a good idea._ "Nothings wrong…. I was just um... curious about something that elder amazon said" Fate's gaze was directed at the floor, feeling it was the easiest way to get her thoughts across with the least amount of embarrassment. "About you being a consort to Gabrielle."

_That's what she's so nervous about!_ "Yeah what about it?"

Fate looked up for a brief moment before averting her eyes again, staring unseeingly at the hut behind Xena. "Is it true?"

"Yes we were bonded last year in an Amazon ceremony."

Curious red eyes finally met her. "So you're married?"

"I believe that's what a bonding ceremony is." Xena said amused. "So why are you asking me this?" She continued curious as to why her bonding interested her so much.

Fate blushed "um… no reason… Just… ah…. Curious." She mentally cursed herself for stuttering.

Xena glanced at her with a knowing look. "does this have something to do with Nanoha?"

Fate's soul seemed to have jumped out of her skin floating around her body, as she entered shock. "NO!" She cried hastily. Cough. "I mean no." she said again more calmly and slower.

"Okay. You don't have to tell me, but if you need advice you know where to find me." Xena then left her standing there mouth agape, which quickly jammed shut as the thought of randomly flying bugs for dinner was less then appetizing.

* * *

Xena walked into the hut she shared with Gabrielle mentally laughing. The blonde's nervous and flustered reaction, all the way to her denial, utterly amused her.

"So what was that about?" Gabrielle said sitting up in their bed.

Xena started unbuckling her armor, before Gabrielle's practiced hands took over. "nothing. She just wanted to know if we were bonded."

Xena removed her breast armor now that Gabrielle was done.

"Oh, why did she want to know?" Gabrielle asked curiously, as she watched Xena remove her gauntlets.

"She wouldn't say. But, I think it has something to do with her friend."

Gabrielle's eyes brightened, "Is she thinking about proposing? They were all cuddly and close when we were traveling with them, and they do have a kid together." Her eyes went all dreamy and hazy as she thought up some plans. "We should gently nudge them in the right direction."

Xena's blue eyes not a few centimeters away from her own green ones gave her a look as warm air brushed her face, "don't start." She leaned back, "They should go at their own pace."

"Oh! Come on Xena! That could take forever. It took us two years!" Gabrielle said exasperated, the warrior was so not a romantic when it came down to it.

"Still we shouldn't be meddling in their lives." Xena said firmly, lying back on the bed.

Gabrielle joined her resting her head on her chest as an arm went around her waist. "You're stubborn."

"And you're nosy."

"Hmm, I think we complete each other quite nicely." Gabrielle said smiling.

"I couldn't agree more." She heard Xena's voice rumble through her chest.

* * *

Fate stepped through the hut, Nanoha greeting her, as her mind was lost in thought.

"Fate-chan!"

Startled she looked at Nanoha.

"What's going on you've been standing there staring at the same spot for a while now, and you wouldn't answer me."

_She's worried. _"Nothing's wrong, I've just been thinking that's all." Fate tried to reassure her by smiling warmly.

"Okay. So where did you go?"

"No where special. Where's Vivio?" Fate said looking around the room.

Nanoha already annoyed by Fate's strange behavior answered curtly, "Sleeping. Now don't change the subject, I want a proper answer."

"I'm not one of your students. You can't tell me how to answer." Fate said coldly. _That came out wrong. I didn't mean it Nanoha._ _I'm sorry. _Of course she didn't voice it.

Nanoha's head fell, her bangs covering her eyes. "You're right you're not one of my students" she gazed into troubled red eyes, "but I thought as your friend you could tell me what's bothering you. Guess I was wrong." She turned her back towards Fate and made her way to bed, not even giving her a second glance.

_Damn it. I made her upset. I'm such an idiot. _Her mouth moved, but no words came out. She stood there in silence unable to say how she felt. Eventually, she made her way over to the bed.

Nanoha lay turned away from her, giving a wide berth where there was no possibility of bodily contact. Fate mentally sighed. She caused this mess and couldn't fix her way out of it either. _I deserve this. Me and my stupid mouth! Stupid feelings! _She didn't exactly know what she was feeling, it was like a mixture of emotions that tugged her every which way without direction, it drove her crazy and caused her to react defensively and coldly toward Nanoha.

She lay their fuming at herself as Nanoha lay on the opposite side upset. It hurt her that Fate couldn't confide in her, but she couldn't force her to either. _Maybe she'll tell me later._ She tried to console herself, but it didn't help much. They lay there the rest of the night each in their own world, Fate trying to sort herself out and Nanoha hoping for the best.

* * *

**Next morning**

A hand stretched up and Fate yawned. She sat up noticing two things: one the bed was cold meaning Nanoha had been up for a while, two she couldn't find her anywhere. _I hope she's not avoiding me. _

She went into Vivio's room, but saw the girl's bed was already made. She felt lonely. She hadn't realized how used she'd grown to seeing Nanoha and Vivio's smiling in the morning. Just thinking about them brought a warm smile to her face. _I have to apologize._ She firmly decided, rehearsing in her head how she would do it as she left the hut.

* * *

**Training Field**

She found Nanoha with a rope in hand and two other amazons talking to her about something. She slowly walked over to her mustering up the courage to apologize. Nanoha didn't take notice of her approaching form, too engrossed in the amazons' teachings to pay attention.

Fate cleared her throat. Clear blue eyes darkened to a deeper blue upon noticing her, Fate mentally winced knowing she was the cause of her sadness.

The other two amazons taking note of the tense atmosphere left, giving Nanoha and Fate their privacy.

All the rehearsing she had done left out the window as Nanoha watched her, patiently waiting for her to say something. "Nanoha I… I'm…" _why is this so hard?_ She took a deep breath soothing herself before sincere red eyes gazed at patient blue, "I'm sorry."

Nanoha sighed, "What for Fate-chan?"

"For being a jerk yesterday. I didn't treat you right, and I'm sorry for that it was just that I was confused and… I don't know… I wasn't myself." Fate said honestly regretful.

Nanoha shook her head, "No. I shouldn't have pushed you. I'm sorry."

They realized there fight was stupid, but that's how things are between good friends you fight over the silliest things and then make up, feeling relieved and happy that the other still cares.

Now that she apologized Fate noticed Vivio wasn't with Nanoha ."Where's Vivio?"

"She's with her new friend Lidea." Nanoha said.

Fate nodded.

"So what's with the rope?" she gestured to the object in her hand.

"Oh this." Nanoha lifted the loop of rope "The amazons are teaching me how to climb trees."

"Climb trees?" Fate raised her eyebrow.

Nanoha spoke excitedly, she loved learning new things, "Yeah, you know like how they jump real high and climb up real fast, sort of like monkeys."

Fate giggled. "So you want to be a monkey."

Nanoha playfully slapped her shoulder. "No." Her eyes sparkled. "I finally get to learn their secret."

Fate shook her head. "Ok, then I'll leave you to your lesson." She turned around and started to leave when she felt a hand grab her wrist.

She turned her head curious red eyes meeting almost pleading blue, "You don't have to go."

Fate turned to face Nanoha. "Alright. I don't mind staying a while."

Nanoha smiled brightly. Fate's insides melted and felt glad they were on better ground.

She stood off to the side gazing at Nanoha, who stood in place bent her knees and jumped up and down, her feet only a few inches off the ground. A picture of a cute brown-furred bunny with blue eyes and twitching whiskers, staring at her, popped into Fate's mind. Unable to suppress it any longer, Fate burst out laughing the mental picture of bunny Nanoha, and her bouncing form just too much for her to handle.

Nanoha stopped jumping, "What's so funny?"

Fate looked at her, her face shifting to the cute bunny, and she felt like picking her up and cuddle. "Um, nothing you just reminded me of a bunny just then."

"A bunny huh." Nanoha's eyes held a playful twinkle. She placed two fingers to the side of her head and started jumping around her nose and mouth twitching side to side in poor imitation of a bunny's.

Fate laughed even harder at her antics her arms holding her stomach.

Nanoha stopped and joined her, feeling a soft warmth._ Her laugh is like a medley of bells. So beautiful_.

The sound of a throat clearing cut through their mirth. "Glad to see you two having fun."

They glanced at Xena while she spoke to Nanoha, "how's the tree climbing going?" She eyed the surrounding area finding the two amazons appointed to Nanoha gone, "and where those amazons?"

Just then, the two amazons returned. "Where were you?" Xena said in irritation.

"We went to check on another training group." An Amazon with short black hair and brown eyes around twenty said.

"Under whose authority?" They didn't answer. "Don't leave until she can climb like any other amazon. We don't have time to waste before we go to battle. I don't want any more fooling around got it." Xena scolded her tone remaining even but clearly disappointed.

"Our apologies we won't leave our post again." The other Amazon with long brown hair and green eyes said as they bowed their heads in deference to her.

"Fate, what position are you fighting? I need to know so that I can place you in the right training group." Xena said.

Fate thought about it. "Probably the ground forces."

"Along side the centaurs?" Xena asked to make sure.

"Yeah."

Xena nodded. "You'll have to see Epinon, you'll find her where the tournament took place. I'll be there shortly until then she will inform you about the basics. Okay?"

Fate nodded. Seeing everything was in order Xena left to check on another group in training.

"Guess you have to go." Nanoha said a bit disappointed.

"Yeah, I'll leave in a bit. I want to see you climb this tree before I go." Fate said encouraging her.

"Hmm. I'm sure I'll make it this time." Nanoha said with determination shining in her eyes.

"I know you will."

Nanoha stood with the two amazons under a branch 8 feet above the ground.

"The key is to find your center of balance so that when you push off the ground you have the most lift." The short black haired Amazon, named Danae, instructed.

Nanoha nodded remembering that part of the lesson from before, _finding that balance is the hard part_.

"I'll demonstrate it and Lina will help you." The Amazon took the proper stance: legs close together to the point of skin on skin contact, arms close at her sides, and back straight. She bent down deeply, her butt almost touching the ground, and sprung up from the balls of her feet. As her feet left the ground, she brought her body ramrod straight, her arms were held up ready to grasp. She caught the branch, and twirled around it before landing in a crouch.

Danae looked down at Nanoha from her new vantage point. "You got it."

Nanoha imitated Danae's posture, Lina adjusting her arms and legs, bringing them slightly closer together and aligning them properly.

Danae dropped from the branch landing in a crouch. She straightened her knees as Nanoha got ready to jump.

_Alright here I go._ Nanoha jumped, her body propelled upward from the ground like the release of tension from a tightly coiled spring. She soared through the air closing the distance between her and the branch. Her face glowed like the sun's warm gentle rays, _I feel as light as a feather this is almost like flying._

She stretched her arms the branch inches away from her hands. She felt the rough bark brush the skin on the palm's of her hands as her body continued rising. For a millisecond, she felt as if she were floating, then it was gone gravity working on her again as she felt herself falling.

She clasped the branch and continued moving, twirling around like a gymnast. At the height of her swing, she let go. Her body flew straight up and flipped right side up, her feet landing on the branch as she crouched.

She gazed down at a beaming Fate, who gave her two thumbs up, and the shocked faces of the amazons. She smiled at herself proudly, _guess I did good._

"Wow, it normally takes a week for an Amazon to actually grab the branch, let alone stick the landing, which is another week." Danae said amazed by her student's ability.

Nanoha dropped from the tree untying the rope around her waist, which was a safety precaution in case she fell.

"So, what's next?" Nanoha said brightly and eager to learn.

"Well you know how to jump onto a tree, land properly on the tree and ground" _which we didn't even teach you yet. She must have picked it up during Danae's demonstration. Still she's amazing._ "The only thing left is moving around in the tree." Lina informed her very much impressed with Nanoha's accomplishments.

Fate stood up from her reclined position against the tree immediately grabbing Nanoha's attention. "I'll be going. Okay Nanoha?" her gentle and mellow voice called.

Nanoha nodded in reply and turned her attention back to the amazons.

Fate left Nanoha in search of Epinon.

* * *

AN: It's 4:00 in the morning so forgive me if I sound incomprehensible, I can't really think straight right now. I tried to portray Fate's conflict- lovers vs. friends. The feeling to progress while not harming their friendship or hurting Nanoha, which she ended up doing when she was confused, and of course didn't like it but couldn't apologize because she wants more and is afraid to get it. I don't know if it came out. So you tell me what you think.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 3

Fate walked around batches of screaming and sweating women. _This is like looking for a needle in a haystack._

She sighed, and decided to ask a woman, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Noticing the foreigner, the black haired ponytailed woman looked at her curiously wondering what she wanted. Her questioning mind was answered soon enough.

"Do you know where I can find Epinon?"

Fate saw the woman think. "I saw her a few moments ago by the weapon's rack she might still be there."

Fate nodded and headed to where she remembered the weapon's rack was, the woman returning to her own activities.

Annoyed, she was about to call on Bardiche to find the elusive weapon's master when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned pleased to see Epinon standing before her. "I heard you've been searching for me."

"Yeah, you're hard to find." Fate joked.

She laughed " I've been busy. So, Xena tells me you're a ground fighter."

"Yes" Fate confirmed.

Epinon nodded. "I know you're a good fighter. You've already shown me that at the tournament, but that's a tournament I don't know how you'll fair in real combat."

Fate nodded, it was understandable she'd never actually seen her fight. "So, what do I have to do?"

Epinon smiled, the blonde exuded confidence on par with the best amazons if not more.

"Well in combat the chances of fighting more than one opponent is high, but you'll have your teammates supporting you to. So, what I'm going to do is place you in a group of amazons, and with your team you'll fight against another larger group, which will simulate our battle condition. Your goal is to disable the other team while losing the least possible amount of members on your team. Okay?" Epinon checked if she understood what was expected of her.

"Okay. So, who are my team members?" Her eyes glinted in anticipation of the fight.

_I like her attitude._ "Follow me I have a team, whose missing a member."

Fate grabbed a scythe before following. Epinon eyed her choice of weapon, she remembered her using it before with expertise, but it was still a rare weapon to use in combat. The majority of people she knew preferred fighting with swords, it being less cumbersome and more effective in battle then a scythe or any other weapon. _This should be an interesting battle._

They reached a group of laughing amazons, who stopped and stood at attention when Epinon arrived.

"Fate, I'd like you to meet your teammates" She gestured to each woman as she named her "Titian," the shortest of the group with reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes, along with a fiery aura, twirled her sword.

"Galen" she had a lady-like appearance, wavy mocha colored hair and blue-green eyes, a calm and collected aura, which contrasted sharply against her friend, and held a staff. Fate had a hard time imagining the dainty looking woman fight in battle.

"Calla" The tallest of the group, long raven colored hair, green eyes, and a scar running across her right cheek marring her otherwise beautiful face.

"and Dyna, your team leader." She had medium length brown hair held up in a high ponytail with commanding brown eyes gazing into Fate's red.

"Girls meet Fate."

They all nodded at each other with Dyna holding her hand out to Fate. Fate grabbed it, both having a firm grip on the other.

Dyna held a suave smile "Nice to have you on the team."

"Thanks" Fate said looking down at the slightly shorter woman.

Epinon was pleased with her amazons' behavior. _They accepted Fate without protest_. "You have 10 minutes to get to know each other and strategize your plan. I'm going to go check on your opponents." With that, Epinon left them to their own devices.

"Interesting choice of weapon" Titian said still twirling her sword "hope you can use it as well as you did in the tournament."

"Don't worry I'll be able to cover you." Fate retaliated with a smug smile. A gentle looking face suddenly filled her sight.

"I thought it was a trick of the light, but your eyes are red!" Galen said surprised by the sight.

"Maybe she's tired Galen" Calla said bored.

Galen stepped slightly away from Fate, giving her room to breathe again, "No I meant her eye color is red"

"What?! let me see!" Titian bounded over. "Yeah! Your right for once Gal. So are you some sort of half demon or demigoddess?" Titian said curiously, and without a hint of fear in her voice. "If you are I'd like to see your power in action." She continued excitedly punching the air against an imaginary foe.

Fate was taken aback unused to this type of attention, never in her life had she met people and they were many, who thought her eye color was strange."Um no. I'm fully human." She answered a bit nervously.

"Really, well you're the first person I've met with red eyes and human, the last time I saw red it was on a Bacchae." Galen said shivering from the memory.

"I remember that we were in Thebes during one of their festivals to Bacchus. Which was great! We were really packing in those drinks when you were almost seduced." Calla said.

"Well she was beautiful" Galen said her eyes glazed over in fond remembrance, which soon fell "to bad she was a bacchae - sigh- "

"What you'd rather be a Bacchae?" Titian interjected.

"No! It's just she gave me such a rush."

Titian waved her off. "Yeah, I'm sure it was her power working its charm on you."

Galen glanced at her indignantly "you weren't there Ti, her beauty fascinated me it was like looking at a rare flower." She said dreamily.

"Yeah you keep telling yourself that." Titian mocked.

Fate was utterly confused at what was going on, _why are they arguing about a Bacchae? and what is it anyway?_ She interrupted the squabble between Titian and Galen "um… What's a bacchae?"

Titian and Galen stopped arguing and everyone looked at her shocked "you mean you don't know?" Calla said unbelievingly, everyone knew of the Bacchae.

Fate shook her head.

"A Bacchae is a follower of Bacchus. They are women who prey on others blood and convert other women by biting them. They can also shape shift into wolves." Dyna informed her.

_Sounds like a weird vampire. _She thought remembering the films she watched on Earth.

Dyna then tried to bring her group into focus "alright, enough chatting, let's get to business. We need a plan of attack. Epinon says we'll be up against 15 warriors."

"What's the plan?" Calla said.

"We should divide them up. Each of us will handle three people while we wedge our way through. Try to stay in formation so that neither of us ends up separated and surrounded."

"and what if we were to get separated?" Galen asked

"Try your best to rejoin the group. We really can't afford to break formation, even if one of us gets lost." Dyna continued.

They separated and formed a wedge with Dyna in the middle, Fate on the right of her, Titian next to her, and Calla on the left of Dyna with Galen at the end. Their opponents were in a block formation.

* * *

Epinon called the start of battle, watching as they ran toward each other in their respective formations.

While Fate's team was fighting, Fate noticed two groups of three women from the back move in opposite directions, _their trying to surround us_.

She ducked a sword swing from her opponent while twirling her weapon in one hand, thrusting the wooden part of her scythe toward her midriff, effectively placing her out for the count. Her eyes looked around catching the women halfway to enclosing the circle as she blocked two sword swings with her scythe.

"Dyna!" Fate cried to the women slightly in front who was fending off a big burly woman.

"Yeah!" She said as her sword clashed with her opponents.

"Their surrounding us!" Fate ducked a sword slash spinning her weapon round beneath her opponent's feet causing her to fall.

"Stay in formation!" Dyna called as she jumped back from a sword slash.

_That's no good. If we stay like this we'll lose. _Fate glanced at the red haired women an idea coming to mind. "Titian!"

The women glimpsed at Fate while fending off two women.

"Kinda busy here!" She replied.

"Switch places with me!" Fate said as she drove her two opponents back. She then ran to Titian's side and blocked the swords aimed for her.

"What are you doing your breaking formation!" Titian screamed livid.

Fate saw the two she threw back hurry forward. "Titian take my former place now!" She used her commanding voice, which forced Titian to follow her lead without further questioning. She made it in time to the two women before they were able to break through and fought them off.

"Galen, Calla switch places!" Fate commanded again. When they had the chance they followed her orders, the formation still in place while they were moving about. Pleased to see things working according to plan she swung her weapon around using the flat of the blade knocking the two woman she was dealing with unconscious.

She gave one more order "Calla! When you're done with your opponents turn around!" Fate spun in place seeing the women surrounding them run forward. Moving quickly she reached the middle of the group closest to her swinging her scythe wide stopping all three from moving forward. She smiled smugly at their surprised faces.

Calla tried glancing around and saw Fate fend off three women from behind them as the other three were closing in, finally realizing the meaning behind Fate's orders. She called Galen for assistance "Galen! Take care of these two for me I need to help Fate!"

"Okay!"

Dyna in the mean time was fuming. _how dare she defy my orders and give new ones_. She knocked two women away, having a break she looked around the battlefield and saw everyone fending off their own opponents, with Calla and Fate defending the rear. Their new formation was a circle to counter their opponents circle. Her anger subsided. Knowing she was beat. She continued fighting helping the struggling Galen with her opponents.

A sword swing was blocked by Dyna, Galen avoiding the other women's attacks. Galen smiled gratefully at Dyna's assistance.

Fate twirled her scythe around her body blocking three strikes from three different directions two at her sides and one at her head. Her movements were quick and precise, no match for all three women working together to best her, even when they attacked at the same time.

_She's like some sort of demon. She's way to fast._ Was the thought of one of her opponents as she slashed at Fate again, her teammates attacking her from the sides trying to pin her.

Fate avoided the slash from her front and jumped back at the last possible moment causing the women's swords on either side of her to clash. She moved quickly, bringing the Scythe's blade down hard on the clashed swords, wrenching the weapons out from her opponent's hands.

The women were completely in shock one moment their swords were in their hands the next they were weaponless. _How did she do that? _was the thought going through both their heads.

Fate spun her scythe around in a wide circle knocking the two women off their feet while they were still comprehending what was going on.

Seeing her two comrades on the ground Fate's last opponent rushed forward swing her sword down at her crouched body. Fate brought up her scythe to block the overhead blow, and kicked her opponents feet out from under her. She placed the blade to her neck "stay down you've lost." She commanded.

The women nodded as best she could and went to the sidelines where the majority of her teammates stood. She was shocked that they lost, _we were 15 against 5 how did we lose?_ She realized it was the work of the blond demon. She was the first to notice their plan of the attack, and inform her teammates barking out orders that were surprisingly effective. _I'm really glad she'll be fighting on our side. Her skills are inhuman._

Meanwhile, Epinon was in utter shock the only other person she knew, who could fight like that was Xena. _Wow! Not only is she a great fighter, but a leader as well. She effectively turned tables on her opponents winning this match without losing one member from her team. I'll have to tell Xena. We can use her as another leader for the ground forces._

When the last woman fell, Fate's team rejoiced in victory. "You did well." Dyna said humbly to Fate.

Fate gave them one of her gentle smiles. "Thanks."

"How did you notice what was going on when you were busy with your own opponents?" Titian asked curious.

Fate shrugged. "I looked around."

"Well in any case you were amazing, we would have lost if you hadn't realized what was going on, and ordered us around." Calla exclaimed.

Fate shook her head "No, we won because we were a good team. I could have shouted out as many orders as I wanted. You guys actually followed, and for that I'm grateful."

"So, not only are you a good leader and fighter, but humble as well." Epinon called from behind the group.

Fate turned to her, "so that mean I pass your test."

Epinon laughed. "Passed?! You blew me away! Nice going." She struck her hand out, Fate shaking it. "Alright you guys get to go on break I'm going to inform Xena."

Fate and the others nodded, and Epinon left them. Those on the sidelines joined the celebrating mini group.

One of them, who fought Fate spoke up, "you know you fight like a demon."

The others had to nod. Fate almost sighed. She didn't want another title, to the one she already possessed, curtsy of her TSAB squad. "No, I'm not. Like I said before, we won because it was a team effort."

The others nodded, but those that fought her were not convinced. The same woman spoke again "well I'm glad you'll be on our team in real combat."

All the others had to agree with that one. Fate's skills were a real asset and would be beneficial to the amazons on the battlefield.

"It's good to have you on my team as well, you all fought great out there." Fate said bringing up their spirits. "Now if you'll excuse me I have some place to be." They parted allowing Fate to pass through, and continued to gossip amongst themselves about the battle as Fate left.

Fate walked in the direction that Nanoha was training in when she stopped. _We're going to battle in two days I want to spend some quite time with Nanoha and Vivio..._ _Nanoha said Vivio's at Lidea's I'll go there first, stop by our hut and then get Nanoha._ Happy with her plan she did just that.

When she made it to the village she realized she didn't know where Lidea or Vivio were. She continued walking anyway while she talked with her child mentally, '_Vivio?'_

'_Yes Fate-mama.'_ Her cute voice reached her making her smile. She hadn't heard nor seen her for hours now.

'_Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up.'_

'_I'm with Lidea at the Amazon temple. If you follow the road from the center of the village out into the forest, you'll find it.'_

'_Got it. I'll be there soon okay.'_

'_k.'_

Fate walked to her family's hut to gather some bathing supplies and there bag to carry it in. She then followed her daughter's instructions and eventually made it to the temple in the forest.

The temple wasn't large it had the same Greek column design like in Athens only vines wrapped around them in a neat and decorative way, unlike the ones that appeared on ruins.

The dirt floor soon turned into the white stone of the temple floor as Fate entered. A priestess in training wearing traditional brown robe with green trimming walked over to her. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for my daughter, she's this tall." She placed a hand in the middle of her belly "blond hair and one green and red eye."

The priestess in training smiled, and conversed as they walked. "She's your daughter! she's been a real angel. She's helped Lidea with her chores and her laughter brought us joy while we were doing our duties."

Fate had a motherly- I'm-proud-of-my-daughter smile as she heard about her daughter's good deeds.

They walked to a door where they could hear laughter. Fate recognized one as her daughter's. The training priestess opened the door revealing a storage room that held many ceremonial objects, like decorative and elegant masks, staffs, daggers, bowls, etc. But Fate was most pleased to see her little girl, who placed down the bowl she was holding and ran into her mother's outstretched arms.

"You smell bad Fate-mama." Vivio commented, smelling the after sweat on Fate's body while she hugged her.

Fate blushed. "I just came from the training field, Vivio." She explained then glanced at Lidea. "Do you mind if I take her with me, I want to spend some time with her."

"Go ahead." Lidea said. She looked her younger friend. "I'll see you next time?"

"Yeah." Vivio said. Then walked out of the temple with her mother.

"So where are we going Fate-mama?" She noticed the bag on Fate's shoulder and was giddy to find out.

"We're first going to get Nanoha-mama, and then I want to take you guys out to a special place." Fate said sweetly, yet elusively.

Vivio became excited. "Where?! Where?!"

Fate laughed, "You'll just have to wait and see."

Vivio started imagining all kinds of things as they continued their walk to the training field. When they got there, they saw Nanoha running around in a tree going from one spot as if she were running on the ground.

_She really has turned into a monkey, must be an effect from not flying for so long._ Fate thought smiling adoringly. Her Nanoha was predictable she loved flying, but since they were here, she couldn't do that, so the thrill of soaring from one branch to another was as close as she could get to it.

The two amazons on the ground watched her almost gravity defying movements in awe. She was better than the best Amazon in tree climbing, and she learned at a fast rate. It took years to reach the comfort level that she was at, and she did it all in a matter of a couple of hours.

_She's unreal._ Were the thoughts going through their heads. If they never actually saw her first attempts at climbing, which showed she'd never done it, they would have never believed she had never climbed before.

Nanoha paused seeing Fate and her daughter with her. She waved to them from her high vantage point.

Fate cupped her mouth and yelled up at her "are you done playing monkey! I want to take you out somewhere!"

Vivio laughed at her Fate-mama's comment, it was funny and true, her Nanoha-mama did look like a human monkey as she swung and jumped from branch to branch, even allowing herself to fall a couple of branches before catching herself and swinging around and about.

Nanoha laughed as she said "I'm not a monkey!" She was on the highest point in the tree, but allowed herself to fall, spinning and flipping her body about to avoid outreaching branches in her way before catching the last branch from the ground. She spun around it before releasing it and flipping in the air landing on her feet.

"show off!" Fate said playfully.

While Vivio was wide eyed, "That's so cool! Nanoha-mama. I wanna do it too."

Fate became worried at that comment thinking of all the things that could go wrong, but Nanoha handled her daughter well. "Not until your older Vivio. You need to build strength, good spatial judgments, and eye hand coordination, before you could do that."

Vivio pouted. "aaawwee, but I'm ten! Can't you at least teach me the basics." She pleaded.

Nanoha thought about it and Fate became even more worried.

F: _you're not actually thinking of teaching her are you!_

N: _don't get so worried she is ten, at her age we did more dangerous things than climbing trees._

F: _yeah, but she doesn't have to do anything dangerous!_

N: _aawwe, Fate-chan's being over-protective of our little girl._

F: _I'm not over-protective I'm prudent. She's too young to be doing dangerous things. And you shouldn't encourage her!_

N: _I never said she'll jump right in to danger. But, I don't see any harm in teaching her the basics. Besides building strength and eye-hand coordination, are normal things done in school sports anyway. Why not nurture her wish to learn._

Fate couldn't reply to that Nanoha was right, but she still didn't want her little girl to get hurt. _Fine. You can teach her._

_You don't have to be upset about it. I'll be gentle and you know I won't let any harm come to our daughter._

Fate felt relieved, but still had a pang of worry. She trusted Nanoha, but as a mother and she was sure Nanoha felt it to, she didn't want her daughter to get hurt. Then her mind picked up on the words, '_our daughter_.'_ I like the sound of that. I feel closer to her._

While Fate was in her own world grinning like a love struck teenager, Nanoha addressed her daughter. "If you want I can train you, but you have to be serious about it. And I'm not letting you climb till I think you're ready. Deal?"

Vivio's face instantly brightened "Yeah."

"Good." Nanoha looked at Fate, whose eyes were glazed over.

She waved a hand in front of her. No reaction.

"May I borrow that Vivio?" Nanoha pointed to the water-skin (a leather sac that holds water) around her waist that she carried from the temple.

Vivio gave it to her.

"Thank- you dear." Nanoha gave Vivio a mischievous wink, her daughter grinned waiting in anticipation for her Nanoha-mama's foul deed.

She placed the hole of the water-skin to her lips taking in a large amount of water, till her cheeks puffed out like balloons. She gave the water-skin back to Vivio, and let the water spray out of her mouth, like a water fountain.

Fate jerked out of her fantasizes suddenly feeling warm wet liquid. She wiped a hand around her face trying to rid herself of it as Nanoha and Vivio laughed.

"What's so funny, and where did that water come from?" Fate asked genuinely confused.

This caused Nanoha and Vivio to laugh even harder. Nanoha eventually calmed down and answered an annoyed Fate "there was a rain cloud over your head that must have gotten you." Nanoha said causing herself to laugh again.

"Haha, very funny Nanoha. So how did you do it?" Fate said suspiciously.

Nanoha acted innocent, pointing to herself "Me!" She turned her head to Vivio "Did I do something Vivio?"

Her daughter played along and shook her head "No. Nanoha-mama didn't do anything." Gigging as she was talking.

Fate gave up and smiled happily, "alright you get to keep your secret. Let's get going." She turned around and started walking leaving her two laughing treasures behind.

They stopped as they saw Fate leave, both running up to catch up with her.

"Where are we going Fate-chan?"

"It's a secret." She said continuing to walk not even glancing at Nanoha.

Nanoha looked down to Vivio asking if she knew, her daughter shook her head negatively.

"Fate-chan's acting mysterious today Vivio. What shall I do?"

"Wait patiently till we find out." Vivio gave her the same answer Fate did earlier.

Nanoha pouted. "awe, but that's no fun."

Vivio giggled her mother was like a child today it was funny and more enjoyable than her normally serious self, although she loved that part of her mother too.

"You should listen to Vivio. She's a smart girl." Fate interjected playfully.

Nanoha stuck her tongue out at Fate.

"I saw that." Fate said.

They were walking in the woods for a while Nanoha wondering if Fate knew where she was going, the endless trees making seem as if they were going around in circles. "Fate where-"

She stopped breathless. They just crossed a bunch of large leaves that obscured the view of a beautiful waterfall, which emptied into a pool.

"Wow!" Vivio said. "Can I go in Fate-mama, Nanoha-mama?" She said excitedly.

"Of course that's why I brought you here." Fate said.

Now that she had permission, Vivio started running to the water. She didn't make it far before she was caught around the waist. She looked back at her gently smiling blond mother. "Vivio."

She looked at her curiously _I thought she said it was okay. _"Yes mama?"

"Aren't you forgetting something."

Vivio thought about it and was stumped.

Seeing her daughter didn't get it. She told her. "Your clothes. You have to take them off."

Vivio blushed in embarrassment completely forgetting about it in her excitement.

Nanoha walked up to Fate. "Wait are you going in?" She asked nervously.

Fate stood up. "Well Vivio did say I smelled bad, and the water looks to nice not to jump in. So why not?"

Nanoha's mind started imagining things, the bath scene in Athens was most prominent. Her face reddened. "Are you going to take off your clothes?" She said timidly.

Fate looked at the normally confident Nanoha, and was puzzled by her shy behavior. "Yes. How else would you get cleaned?"

They heard a splash.

"Ah, Vivio's already in. Let's hurry Nanoha otherwise we'll miss all the fun." Fate stepped away from her figuring she'll calm down on her own, and started to undress, feeling a lot more comfortable than the previous times she had in front of Nanoha. This was because a few things recently came in to focus:

she loved Nanoha

she wanted to stop hiding her love for her

Was more of the above

Nanoha tried to calm down as much as she could taking deep breaths and desperately trying not to think. She heard another splash. _That must be Fate. Good at least I won't see her naked._ She undressed and hurriedly made her way to the pool. The water was surprisingly warm. Nanoha resurfaced moving some of her long hair away before swimming to Fate and Vivio, who were in a splashing war.

"Are you guys going to bathe or play?" Nanoha said.

Fate and Vivio stopped splashing and looked at each other calculatingly. Nodding in agreement, they both looked at her with expressions that screamed of mischief.

Before Nanoha could say anything Vivio sent a giant wave of water at her. Her eyes closed instinctively to keep the water out.

While Vivio kept bombarding Nanoha with wave after wave of water, and Nanoha weakly attempted to splash her back, Fate dove underwater and started swimming. Looking around with her water-blurred vision she eventually found two feminine legs treading water; smiling inwardly she made her way over.

Nanoha yelped feeling something grab her legs before her head found itself under water. In her panic she caught a glimpse of flowing gold tresses, and relaxed. It didn't last long, soon replaced by fire and electricity as a naked body pressed up against her back, arms holding her around her waist as she was propelled forward due to this person's swimming.

They resurfaced closer to the waterfall. both feeling incredibly aroused but ignored the feeling in favor of laughter. Fate let Nanoha go, both feeling cooler at the loss of contact, the water caressing their skin in place of a warmer body.

Nanoha struck her tongue out at Fate. "Mou, you really scared me Fate-chan."

"Sorry, but I wanted you to loosen up."

_I don't know how relaxed I am now, if anything you worked me up. _Nanoha thought.

They continued swimming around and having fun, eventually bathing, and then leaving to get dressed with Nanoha and Fate blushing furiously while sneaking gazes at each other when the other was not looking.

* * *

**Somewhere Three days away from Centaur/Amazon land.**

Alti was in her command tent having a discussion with what seemed like thin air, making any by passer think she was even crazier then she already was.

"I want a body." A dark and deep voice said from nowhere.

Alti looked down to the glowing red stone in front of her, Dahawk's current resting place, since she released him from his sealed tomb and transferred his essence into the stone.

"I know. When I find someone suitable to house you, you'll have one." A high-pitched raspy and rough voice said in irritation.

"It's been five days since you released me, and I'm still waiting!" The deep voice increased in volume outraged to still be incased in stone.

"Stop complaining. Your power is still effective even if you are in there. Just look at our army. Over 1,000 men and every one of them is even more cruel, violent, and ruthless since they've sworn to follow you." Alti said pleased with the dark and cruel hearts of her men.

"That may be true, but I want the world drenched in darkness my power over flowing into every mortal on this world." The enraged baritone voice sent a dark pleasure through Alti's body giving her goose bumps. She loved the way Dahawk thought.

"As do I, and I can't wait for the day that it does happen. But, we need a mortal, who is powerful enough to house you otherwise you won't be able to retain your place in their body."

Dahawk placated by her words changed the topic. "You're planning on attacking the Amazons and Centaurs right."

The thought of their destruction brought Alti a crooked and twisted smile. "Yes, and if we are lucky we might find Xena."

Upon hearing the name of the one who first destroyed his plans the rock shook on the table, Alti could feel waves of hate. "XENA, I WANT TO DESTROY HER!"

Alti petted the rock in a soothing motion. "All in good time Dahawk. But, before we kill her we should get her little girlfriend. The pain and devastation on her face would be priceless."

A deep and dark manic laughter mimicked the evil grin on his compatriot's face.

"Yes your right, we should make her death slow and painful by getting rid of the one she loves most." Their minds filled with dark fantasies as they thought of all the suffering they would lay to this world.

* * *

AN: some corny jokes, bad battle strategies (oviously not that good at writing them, reminds me of my difficulty in playing chess), and of course more bath scenes in true Xena fashion (they had a whole bunch in the show) I didn't plan on another bath scene, but it just flowed out that way. And They always seem to develop further there.

By the way tell me if you like the chapters broken up or left long.

So, this is my thanksgiving to you. Thank you for reading this, and commenting, following it etc. And I wish to you guys the best. Till next time.


	11. Chapter 11

Rating went up to due to violence.

* * *

Chp. 8 Day of darkness

The dark sky slowly grew lighter as dawn broke through with the first rays of light. The air was thick and chilled but that could be due to Nanoha and Fate's own feelings than the weather itself. Both placed on their devices, Bardiche on Fate's gloved right hand and Raging Heart around Nanoha's neck in front of her phoenix necklace.

A melodious voice broke the silence "It's strange."

Nanoha looked at her curiously while fixing her hair.

"This isn't my first mission or the first time I've fought in battle and yet my stomach is full of butterflies." She stood up, glancing at Nanoha.

"I know what you mean, I feel the same way. I think it's because this is the first time we'll fight a whole battle without magic."

"mmm... Your right."

Knock. Knock.

Nanoha went to open the door.

"Are you guys ready?" Xena said after the door was opened.

"Yeah, we're just waiting for Lidea to come." Nanoha said.

Xena nodded before addressing them "Come to the village center when you're ready. We'll be leaving for the Centaur's village in an hour." Seeing they understood her, Xena left them and continued with her work.

Nanoha slung the bow and arrows the amazon's gave her, before they left for Athens, across her shoulder as Fate adjusted the sword around her waist.

"Fate-chan?" Nanoha's voice held a hint of worry as she called her name.

"mmm" Fate glanced up after securing the sword's belt.

"Is that all you'll be wearing?"

Fate looked down at herself: she wore her black with yellow trimmed toga, her sandals and sword. She didn't find anything missing. "Yeah. Why?"

"You're going to fight on the front-lines shouldn't you wear some armor?" Nanoha's troubled blue eyes stared at her.

Fate got the hint, "before we go to the village center I'll ask where I can borrow some. Okay?"

Tense muscles filled with worry relaxed with relief. This battle was no joke and she didn't want to see Fate hurt because of carelessness. Nanoha agreed.

Knock. Knock.

Nanoha went to open the door again.

"Hello Lidea come in." Nanoha stepped aside so that she could enter. "Vivio's still sleeping, but she should be up in a couple of hours."

"Okay." _Guess I have some time to kill._

"Lidea, would you happen to know where I can borrow armor?" Fate asked coming up to stand beside Nanoha.

"I would check the blacksmith's or weapons hut." Lidea said.

They nodded and turned toward Vivio's room, leaving Lidea to wait in the main room.

Standing by the door frame, a maternal, soft and tender feeling surged forth at the sight of a peacefully sleeping Vivio hugging her teddy bear. Walking toward the blissfully sleeping girl, they each bent forward and kissed her softly on the forehead. Their unknowing daugther continued to sleep undisturbed.

At the door, they took one last glance at Vivio before leaving her room and soon the hut, leaving Lidea the responsibility of caring for her while they were away.

After having breakfast, they stopped by the blacksmith's hut since it was closer then the weapon's hut. Scattered around the hut were a few swords both finished and unfinished lying around on the floor and walls as well as many different types of armors, ranging from simple to complex in design. The hut itself was hot, almost baking, because of the raging fire towards the back of the hut that occasionally produced a popping sound as it ate the wood to fuel itself.

"Hello! Is anyone here?" Nanoha called upon seeing no one.

"Just a second." Came a muffled voice behind a wooden wall.

Pretty soon a well built muscular woman covered in sweat appeared before them. Quickly taking in the strangers, definitely non-amazon women, with curiosity "What can I do for you?"

"Do you have any spare armor I can borrow?" Fate asked.

The blacksmith's brown eyebrows scrunched in thought for a few moments before they relaxed and she seemed to almost bounce in excitement, although no such movement was made. "I do have this one set, I just finished making that should fit you. Would you like to see it?"

Fate nodded. So the blacksmith walked to another room and came back out with plainly designed, but functional, chest armor and gauntlets. "Would you like to try it on?"

Fate glanced at Nanoha seemingly asking for her approval. Receiving some answer, she turned back to the blacksmith. "Okay."

The blacksmith gave her the armor helping her get in. Now that she wore it, she felt it was light and allowed her to move her body in all types of ways. This suited her style of combat, which relied on agility and speed. The armor itself was silver and layered covering her whole torso while the gauntlets were placed on her thighs, near her biceps, and on her forearms.

Fate turned to Nanoha "So how do I look?"

Eyeing the armor that fit Fate like a glove, the silver color contrasting nicely with the underlying black toga, "Very handsome." _Like my knight in shining armor_ the thought fluttered through her mind, making the bridge of her nose redden. Thankfully, Fate didn't notice her blush as she was preoccupied.

Fate looked at the blacksmith, who was admiring her handy work and finding the results quiet pleasing. "May I borrow it?"

"Yeah sure. So long as you tell me how it is in battle." The blacksmith smiled playfully and struck out her meaty hand.

"Sure" Fate smiled and shook the woman's hand amazon style, grasping her forearm in a firm hold before letting go.

Now prepared for battle, they left the hut for the village center where 200 or so amazons were gathered.

Gabrielle stood on the dais addressing her subjects. "Amazons! Today we march into battle to protect our home! Our children! From the destruction that Alti and her army brings. I know we'll fight with bravery and courage. May Artemis protect us!"

The amazons roared fists raised and pumped for battle as Gabrielle walked off the stage, Xena taking her place.

The amazons immediately quieted and listened intently for their orders.

"When we reach Centaur land we'll split up into two groups. All archers will follow Epinon, and the rest of you will come with me. Alright, let's move out!"

The amazons started marching toward the forest, which eventually led to Centaur land. Nanoha and Fate made their way to the front where Xena, Gabrielle, and Epinon stood.

Xena glanced at them as they kept on walking "Good to see you two." She then turned her gaze solely on Fate, who stood at attention treating her as she would her superiors at the TSAB. "I need to speak with you about the battle." She took a few long strides setting her apart from the others and creating a space for private conversation.

Fate glanced at Nanoha, who shrugged her shoulders before waving her off. Walking a bit faster Fate caught up with Xena, who noticed her presence before Fate could say anything- not that she would have for Fate had gotten to know her well enough to know Xena was always alert and aware of her surroundings making any gesture or other signs of alert a pointless endeavor.

"I am planning to break the ground assault into three groups: left, right, and center flanks. Gabrielle and I are each leading a flank, leaving me short one leader. Would you be interested in the position?" Seeing red eyes widen caused the corners of Xena's lips to twitch in concealed amusement.

A single thought ran through Fate's head that she voiced, "why are you asking me instead of an amazon? She would have the advantage of knowing her people and how to command them."

"True. But, Epinon told me you took charge and led your team, which was at a disadvantage, to victory without losing one member." Fate interrupted her before she could go on.

"We won because it was a team effort." Fate corrected her.

"No, you won because you're a good leader." Xena countered, but liked her modesty. "And I am looking for someone who can quickly assess the situation, take command, and keep their team alive against a larger foe while coming out with minimal causalities. You were the only one with the smallest count in yesterday's combat simulation despite not knowing your team members or growing up alongside them. The other few amazon leaders who were victorious had also lost a few of their members." Seeing her reluctance she continued, "I'm not asking you to save everyone that is being unrealistic. I am only asking for the least losses and according to Epinon you can do it, and I trust her judgment. So what do you say?"

Xena allowed her to think it over as they walked.

A few minutes of silence went by, Fate carefully mulling over Xena's proposal. Finally, she came to a conclusion she was satisfied with.

"Alright" her voice was strong and confident. This was like any other mission even the more challenging ones, and she would work through any and all disadvantages to complete it.

Xena nodded, pleased in knowing she could count on her. They slowed their pace and rejoined the rest of the group; Fate filled Nanoha in on her conversation while Xena told Gabrielle and Epinion the results.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence except for the sound of crunching boots, rustling leaves, and chirping birds keeping them company. Soon, they saw the bright unfiltered light that indicated the end of the forest and the start of open fields.

Xena stopped, the sound of marching gradually receding as the amazons came to a stop. She eyed Epinon who noticed her cue and turned toward the amazons.

"Archers to the trees and spread out." Epinon ordered before jumping into a tree.

Those who were archers bid good-bye and blessed safety to their companions before ascending to the trees. They ran on the branches moving from tree to tree till 50 amazons widely spanned the tree line.

Nanoha's concerned blue eyes met red before she embraced Fate, her head resting on the cool surface of Fate's new armor- if it wasn't for that she would have buried it in Fate's chest. "Be safe Fate-chan."

Fate held her tight "always." After a few moments, Fate moved her head slightly back. Placing her hand under Nanoha's chin she gently lifted her head so their eyes met, "Besides, I have you watching me. I know I'll be safe." She gave her a gentle smile.

Nanoha's eyes moistened her heart filled with love, "mmm. mmm."

They slowly broke apart, Nanoha giving Fate one last smile before jumping into the trees disappearing amongst the branches.

Fate turned back toward Xena, Gabrielle, and the rest of the amazons breaking into three groups on Xena's order.

Xena glanced at her, ice blue eyes asking if she was ready. Fate nodded and looked at her group of amazons. She recognized the amazons with the friendly smiles, although surprised looks, from sparring matches but the majority of them with distrusting glares, frowns, and looks bordering on anger were strangers; as she was to them.

She knew she had to win their favor now or they would surely lose before the battle had even begun. She projected her voice so that all 50 amazons in her care could hear her, "I may not know most of you, but we share something in common. We fight to protect. I may not be an amazon protecting my home, but I have left someone very precious to me in your home, which you have so kindly opened to my family." She could see the distrust and frowns diminish replaced by attentive listening. She inwardly smiled. It was a good start. "My daughter. Your own children and loved ones. We fight to protect them."

A few heads nodded.

_Now lets see how they'll react to this._ Her eyes hardened and her voice grew grave as she continued, "But know this only if we work together can we win. We are a team and must look after one another to survive." She saw their faces turn serious as they took note of her warning. Her voice gentled, "I don't want to lose any one of you, and I'll make sure I take care of you. So you can see your loved ones again. All I ask is that you take care of each other and treat me as one of your own."

Her heart felt speech moved the amazons enough to put aside any ill feelings and honestly follow her lead, some even feeling secure in her command.

Those that knew her yelled, "You have our support!"

And soon after, the rest of the amazons as one raised their fists in agreement.

A kind smile grew on Fate. _I'll protect and guide you well_ She mentally promised feeling a bit of the affection she usually had for her comrades in arms.

She saw Xena's group start moving out and did the same. No longer beneath the comforting shade of the forest trees bright light mercilessly bombarded her eyes making them sting. She shielded her eyes with her hand and blinked a few times to adjust to the new lighting when they did she saw the awaiting group of Centaurs in three neat columns ahead.

Xena signaled for her to go toward the left so she made her way to the far left of the field next to a Centaur group, while Xena's team took center, and Gabrielle's team went to the right.

They waited. Their enemy on the other side of the field all dressed in black. Finally, they moved like a dark shadow descending upon them.

* * *

**On a hill**

Alti looked down at the awaiting Centaurs and Amazons surprised to see them ready for battle. _No matter we outnumber them, and a struggling life is always more fun than merely taking one._ She laughed darkly at their attempt to survive.

Her men waited in anticipation for her call, licking their lips at the sight of their prey.

"ATTACK!" A raspy voice screamed. The men ran forward hungry for battle.

* * *

Fate waited anxiously with the amazons and Centaurs. She heard the Centaur's hooves paw the ground in anticipation.

As the black plague ran, the air filled with the roar of screaming men pumped on adrenaline, which soon turned into screams of pain as some men were engulfed by the ground into Xena's traps. Those that survived continued forward and then a rain of arrows darkened the sky impaling some of the running men.

Undeterred by the loss of some men the others continued running forward not even hearing their comrades' screams of pain. All they saw was red. They wanted red blood flowing, and they hungrily ran for it like a pack of wolves hunting their prey.

They grew closer. Fate was able to make out their wild faces, their mouth frothing as if a meal was waiting for them.

Fate drew her sword the light glinting off the blade.

She raised it in the air and brought it down "MOVE!"

She started running forward the amazons following her as well as the Centaurs, who were faster and already ahead of her.

Then the first clash of blades happened with the Centaurs meeting the front rows of men. The other men continued running eventually colliding with the raised blades of the amazons. Until soon, everyone was fighting.

Fate ran forward slashing her sword at every man coming toward her felling them immediately. Some of the surrounding men tried to attack but she saw the glints of their swords and either spun or ducked to avoid their attacks, but never stopping. She was dancing the dance of war.

She heard the whistle of an arrow fly by impaling soldiers in front of her. For every man that went down there was another to replace him. It was a seemingly never-ending pattern.

Fate dodged and danced around the attacks of 5 men that ended up surrounding her. She noticed their eyes were wild from insanity, but their attacks were meant to maim or kill.

She held off three swords as she kicked a rushing man back. The men against her sword bore down on her, her leg moved back as she still clenched her sword in place. A nearby Centaur rushed forward impaling one from the side, the other two lost balance as the dead body fell toward them.

She looked gratefully at the Centaur, who bowed his head in acknowledgement before moving on. She looked over her team and saw them doing well. _No one down yet_.

* * *

**In the trees**

From Nanoha's vantage point the battle below seemed like a large brawl. If it weren't for the distinctive black color the enemy wore it would have been rather difficult to tell friend from foe at least for the amateur on looker and Nanoha was no amateur to the chaos of the battlefield. There were other indications she looked for other than color that told her who was ally and who an enemy.

She released two arrows aiming for the black men. The arrows sliced through the air and found their mark, felling two rushing men.

She continued to release arrow after arrow all finding their mark. As she did this she also kept track of Fate, even in the midst of the chaos she was able to find her, her eyes always able to gravitate to her blond haired red-eyed friend no matter where she was.

_She's doing well, in her typical way of fighting._ Nanoha reassured of her friend's safety returned her attention to the enemy.

* * *

**On the hill**

Alti had a psychotic smile. She seemed to take pleasure from the screams of pain and blood even if it was from her own men. After all they were replaceable why not enjoy their **noble** sacrifice? _There is only one person, who'd do this… Xena._ She thought of the name in ecstasy. She drew her horse forward deciding to join in the battle, Dahawk's stone resting around her neck glowed a deep red.

* * *

"AIAIAIAYYYHA" came the famed war cry as Xena somersaulted over the head of a man. Swinging her sword in mid air so the dangerous point was behind her, she landed and thrust it into the belly of a the man- who at her jump turned- rushing with sword raised to impel her from behind only to find it was his blood flowing and not hers. He fell to his knees, eyes already beginning to glass over. Xena quickly jerked her sword free, the man thudding to the ground dead. She paid no mind to him, this was war and her focus was on those alive and posing a threat. Bring her hand to her hip she unhooked her Chakram and let it fly. It hit 10 men felling them as it bounced off one and headed to another before returning to her hand.

There was a wide birth of fallen bodies and her next opponents due to her handiwork.

* * *

Fate swirled her sword in front of her, slashing the stomachs of four men, who encircled her. She then rushed forward to a struggling amazon, placing her back against hers as a man's sword descended only to be blocked by Fate's sword. She kicked the man aside before slashing his thigh, disabling him at least for a while from further combat.

She continued moving. Men falling to the ground as she danced around attacks and helped her team stay alive.

* * *

As Alti made her waydown the hill and into the thick of battle Dahawk's deep voice grabbed her attention.

"I sense a powerful presence."

"That could be Xena" Alti said off handedly. The stone darkened in anger before going back to normal red.

"No. This presence has power. A power that can house me." Dahawk said almost gleefully.

"Where?" Alti asked curiously, as she looked among the combatants.

"A long blond haired women in silver armor and black clothing."

Alti spotted her. A woman who danced in battle and disabled or felled every man in her way. _I don't know if she has power, but she's a great fighter, almost like Xena._

"I was thinking of finding Xena's little brat, but I'll put that on hold to meet this special person" her raspy voice said.

**************

Fate spun and jumped to the side avoiding two attacks. A third man slashed for her head, but she avoided that as well, and kicked the sword out of the man's hand. It flew in the air before landing on the ground a couple feet away. The man undeterred continued to fight with his bare hands aiding his comrades against her.

However, she was fast and agile. Twirling and kicking, punching and blocking, ducking and dodging, she was like a tornado, a whirl wind of attacks. Her golden hair flew around in all directions as she continued moving in her deadly dance.

*****************

When Alti neared she was very much impressed with the girl. But, what really drew her was the deeply hidden pain locked away in a corner of her heart. _Oh how delicious._ She also felt an almost electric power emanating from her.

"I think she'll do nicely." Alti said.

"I know she will." Dahawk's cruel tone exclaimed. "All I need you to do is open her heart to me Alti. The rest leave up to me."

"Very well. I am interested to know of her pain anyway." Her mind then attacked entering the unsuspecting woman's mind.

Fate's punch paused before a man's head. The man took advantage and aimed to attack, but her body jerked back as if she were hit and it certainly wasn't because of him.

_Huh? What's going on?_ She picked herself up from the floor and shook her head suddenly feeling weird. Then it happened.

Scenes passed through her mind. Scenes of her childhood; of her long gone black-haired mother.

**Past:**

A whip came crashing down the back of a young Fate, breaking skin. Her back burned, but her heart ached even worse.

**Present:**

Fate yelped in pain. The scarred skin on her back tore open from a whip that struck it. Her heart hurt, she wanted to see her mother smile, she didn't mean to disappoint her. Somewhere in her self-loathing and pain, her rational mind kicked in, _why am I feeling like this?! Why does my back hurt?! What's wrong with me?_!

Fate saw the same man approaching sword ready to strike. She tried to avoid the attack, but was bombarded again by another image. The man no longer in her field of view.

**Past:**

"I've always hated you Fate." The voice of her mother.

Her little body torn with Pain. Grief. Abandonment.

**Present:**

The man's sword swung down to an unseeing and unmoving Fate. His blade was inches away from Fate's neck when it stopped. A passing amazon interjected his attack. She swung her sword in rage dismembering his head from his body.

The reddish-brown haired Amazon looked at her leader, who didn't react at all to almost dying, or even noticed her presence.

_What's wrong with her?_ "Hey! Wake up!" She slapped Fate, her face reddened but showed no indication of even feeling it.

Titian looked around and spotted Calla "Calla!" The amazon eyed her after finishing off her opponent. "Come here! Something's wrong with Fate!"

Fate's knees suddenly buckled. Her shins hit the ground as she sat on her legs. And then she screamed. A scream that seemed to cut through the battlefield in its intensity. It was an enraged, pain filled, wail of grief and agony. Many of the Amazons and Centaurs in the vicinity paused for a brief moment after hearing it before they continued their attack less they die.

Titian was taken aback. _What's happening to her! Why'd she fall?! Why is she screaming?!_ She couldn't see anything physically wrong with her yet she fell and screamed.

Calla looked at Titian for answers.

"I can't find anything wrong with her. I don't know what's going on!" Titian yelled in outrage from not knowing, for not being able to help her comrade.

In Fate's mind the emotions she once felt as a child, all of a sudden resurfaced just like the day she felt them. No, worse. They were amplified, and her back hurt like hell, every single whipping she ever had as a child reopened and bled profusely.

But, her torment, her agony, and loss of control was caused by one terrifying moment.

**Past:**

A teenaged Fate saw Nanoha lying on the medical bed from a wound in her chest. The medics informed her that the extent of her injuries were grave. Her heart and linker core were grazed, her right lung punctured, and she might have some nerve damage in the middle of her back. They didn't think she was going to survive.

She felt like she was dying right along with her. And then the thought crossed her mind _I'll kill them. I'll kill every one of them that hurt her._

Dark emotions coursed through her, as her face turned cold, her demander calm and collected. She went on a search party for the culprits. Her team found them beneath the ruins of an ancient civilization.

They were a group of 30 or so men. An underground organization, that was in the business of finding and smuggling lost logia for criminal groups.

Bardiche's yellow energy blade felt comforting in her hands. She ran forward at incredible speeds. They didn't even know what hit them. All they knew before they met their end was glowing yellow illuminating cold blood red eyes.

She, alone, had decimated over half the group; her teammates capturing those that had escaped her. When her task was complete all that lay on the ground were dead bodies.

Her teammates looked at her in surprise and a good dose of fear. They saw their usually forceful friend turn deadly; bringing instant death upon every poor soul that her blade touched. That day she earned the title Death's Servant.

**Present:**

Dahawk's stone was glowing brightly feeding off Fate's pain and suffering. He was practically in ecstasy. He then felt it, the moment when she was at her darkest. The darkness that was his dominion. It called to him, bridging a bond between them. The stone's red glow slowly dulled as the presence left in favor of a new body.

Alti was very much surprised by the world and power she was witnessing from Fate's memories. They were unlike anything she'd seen before. W_hat is she?_ Her thoughts were interrupted. Her mind stopped an arrow in midair inches from impaling her head. It dropped to the dirt, harmless.

* * *

**Earlier, Tree line**

As Nanoha readied her next shot, she felt a twinge of pain contract in her heart. She almost winced. _W__hat was that?_ Subconsciously, she knew for she suddenly felt a foreboding feeling.

_FATE!_ Her mind screamed at her. Her eyes quickly gazed over the battlefield. She found her, jerking back as some unforeseen force hit her. _Is it magic? No. Fate wouldn't be caught off guard it's something else._ But, she didn't know what. She then saw her fall to her knees and heard a howl of deep sorrow and pain.

Nanoha didn't even think twice. She dropped from the tree and ran forward, to Fate, who she felt needed her.

Precisely shot arrows lodged into men's bodies as a running brunette felled those that stood in her way. The surrounding Amazons and Centaurs who occasionally glanced around the battlefield or searched for a new opponent were surprised to see an archer on the ground, and the path of fallen bodies she cleaved with her arrows.

* * *

Fate's wail soon stopped. Titian and Calla sighed with relief, and went to grab her arms to lift her from the ground, but their hands wrenched back reflexively as a jolt passed through them.

Fate's body remained on moving save for the yellow colored sparks flowing from her shoulders and head, slowly growing to where the whole outline of her body blew sparks. The sparks soon became a wild and untamed crackle of surging electricity that seemed to do no damage to her. Occasionally, the electricity flared out in long whip like bolts. Titian and Calla had to step away from Fate, or be electrocuted.

"What's going on?!" Calla cried in confusion.

Then for a split second they saw an arrow pass by their eyes. They tracked the flight path back to a white clad running brunette, holding a bow.

She ran to the fallen blond unheeding the overflowing electricity that surrounded her.

"How's she able to endure it?" Titian said, as she saw Nanoha move toward Fate without crying out in pain from the erratically moving light.

Nanoha knelt down gently cupping the blond's face in her hands as she glanced into hollow red eyes. It was like nobody was home.

"Fate-chan wake up!" Dull eyes still looked back at her.

Nanoha moved her hands to her shoulders and tried shaking her awake. "WAKE-UP! It's me! Nanoha! You have to Wake-Up!" She cried desperate to get her attention.

The wildly running energy receded till it was gone, but she still made no move that she saw Nanoha. Then suddenly, eyelids fell closed slowly covering those unpleasant dull red eyes. Her body slumped forward, her head buried between Nanoha's soft breasts, completely drained. Nanoha held her gently slowly standing up with her in her arms.

Seeing that it was safe to approach Titian and Calla came up to Nanoha. "Let us help. We'll take her to the healer back in the amazon village."

Nanoha was reluctant to let her go, but knew she needed immediate medical attention, and so relented allowing them to take her.

Titian and Calla gently grasped Fate as they ran back to amazon land, leaving Nanoha with the source of the problem.

Nanoha had felt the strange power before but was too preoccupied with Fate to deal with her completely, her arrow was warning enough. So, she was not surprised to see the suede clad with bone ornaments and dears head dressed women still alive, after aiming for her head.

Nanoha's gaze narrowed at the smug smile on her face. "What did you do to Fate." She said in a low deadly voice.

"Nothing, she was just reliving past memories." The high-pitched raspy voice responded.

Nanoha conncected the dots and was able to determine who it was. _So this is Alti._

"Tell your friend hello when she wakes up I have other engagements to attend to." She said before turning her horse and galloping away.

Nanoha let her go, as she had run out of arrows, and was more preoccupied with getting to Fate then dealing with her. _I'll take care of you the next time we meet._ The White Devil's blue eyes glinted with promise.

* * *

**Alti's camp, nighttime**

The day's battle had ended with 300 hundred or so of her men dead or dying and 100 injured. Of course it didn't matter to Alti at all; there were many men in the world who could replace them.

_I was unable to snag Xena's little friend, but it's of no matter. The next few days should prove to be interesting anyway._ She brought a glass of red wine to her lips, enjoying the burn as it went down her throat.

She listened to the silence before heading for bed, excitedly anticipating tomorrow's battle.

* * *

**Healing hut. Same day. 1430 hours (2:30pm)**

Nanoha was by Fate's side, who still hadn't awakened, holding her hand. She waited for the healer to come over from the other injured amazons lying in beds. She obviously wasn't checked for her armor was still on as she lay on her back, her face relaxed in blessed unconsciousness.

Soon, a middle-aged brown haired woman with kind blue-green eyes walked over eyeing her next patient. "how long has she been out?" She asked Nanoha, her eyes giving a preliminary run through checking for any obvious injuries.

"10 maybe 15 minutes."

"hmm, I don't see any head injuries. So it's not a coma. But, help me take off her armor, and I'll check what's going on."

Sliding her hand under Fate's neck and lower back, Nanoha sat her up and held her as the healer unclasped the armor and removed it from her torso. Armor free she gently lay Fate back down. When she removed her hands, she saw the one holding Fate's back drenched in blood, the black material of the toga effectively concealing her bleeding.

Worry immediately set in, concern for her friend's well being over running her. The healer turned Fate over onto her stomach, taking note of Nanoha's blood stained hands. "If you'd like there is a water basin on the left wall under the herbs. You could wash your hands there."

She wanted to wash off the blood, but was unable to leave Fate's side so she compromised. "Can I just borrow a towel for now? I don't want to leave her."

The healer nodded handing her the towel that lay on her shoulder. Nanoha took it and wiped away the blood, and placed the towel on the bed till its next use.

"We need to remove her clothing. Do you want to undress her or shall I?"

"I'll do it."

The healer nodded at the serious brunette.

Nanoha unbuttoned the two buttons at the shoulders that held Fate's toga together. She gently peeled back the material slowly revealing a torn and bloody back. Deep whip lines crisscrossed everywhere making her once smooth milk colored skin unrecognizable.

Nanoha was in shock, but tears streamed down her face. Remembered words came to her mind _'relieved the past.' Is this Fate's past. I knew her mother didn't treat her right, but I never realized it was like this._ Nanoha felt sorrow and righteous indignation for Fate's painful relationship with her so-called mother. _If she weren't already dead I would kill her._ Her eyes burned with fury but it quickly receded, her mind focusing on Fate's healing.

She unhooked Fate's black bra that supported her breasts, allowing the healer full unhindered access to her back.

Eyeing the disaster that was suppose to be a back, the healer addressed Nanoha "I need to get supplies I'll be back soon." She left to the back of the room where she grabbed some things before heading back to her patient.

Nanoha ran her hand through Fate's soft golden tresses the action relaxing her. But, relaxation soon vanished as her emotions became oddly conflicted. On the one hand, she felt like she had to remain in contact with Fate otherwise she would lose her. On the other, she felt like cringing every time she did touch her. She sensed that there was something very wrong with her, but she couldn't explain what only that there was some unseen force at work.

The healer returned with a bowl filled with water, small towels, bandages and a jar. She placed the things down on the bed then dropped the towel into the bowl allowing it to soak up water before ringing out the excess. She dabbed Fate's back with the wet towel cleaning the blood.

Nanoha took another towel and helped clean. As she washed the blood away, she sensed tiny tremors of pulsing electricity emanating from the wounds, but they weren't intense enough to be noticed or felt by the healer. Nanoha didn't think much of it. It was normal for an injured mage to have magic leak from his/her wounds. It's what made them heal faster than a nonmage.

After cleaning away the blood her back didn't look as bad, but deep wounds and clearly defined crisscrossing lines of torn flesh were still noticeable.

The healer opened the jar. A pungent and mint smell wafted in the air. She placed two fingers in the cool cream removing a hefty amount of the greenish-brown material, and gently rubbed it in the wounds.

Nanoha heard Fate's breathing hitched when the salve touched her skin, and grasped her hand gently rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand.

The healer explained the purpose of the ointment "This helps prevent infection while promoting quicker healing."

When she was done Fate's back was almost covered in the greenish-brown lotion.

"Alright she's done" the healer wiped her hands on a towel removing remnants of the cream from her fingers. "I'll bring you a change of clothes and we'll have hers washed."

Nanoha nodded, not taking her eyes off Fate. Her hand still ran through her hair even though the healer finished treating her.

She didn't wait long when the healer returned with a white linen and blanket. Before they moved Fate, they placed the blanket over her legs. The blanket's lining stopping where her lower back met her bottom, allowing some privacy from the other occupants of the room, even though they were all female.

Nanoha placed her hands on Fate's hip and shoulder and gently moved her onto her side while being careful of her back. She held her in place as the healer on the opposite side of the bed removed the toga exposing the front of Fate's black laced bra and taut stomach.

If the healer noticed the strange material let alone why it was covering her patients breasts she didn't mention it for she quickly covered her patient's front with the white linen and tied the linen's strings around her neck. The top done, she now had to secure the lower part of the L shaped linen. Moving the blanket lower and out of the way, she indicated Nanoha to raise Fate's hip and slipped the material through the gap then wrapped it around Fate's hips and buttoned the side.

Nanoha moved Fate back onto her belly. The cloth left all of Fate's back exposed while covering her front and bottom.

Fate not waking at any point of the treatment worried her. "Why is she still not awake?"

The healer's kind voice answered "it could be from shock. She'll wake soon enough. Her body is in a healing sleep." The healer left to treat her other patients, after checking Fate for any other injuries, which she didn't find.

Nanoha hoped the healer was right, and that Fate would soon wake up. She gave one last run through her hair, bending over to kiss her temple. "I'll be back soon Fate-chan. I need to check on our daughter" she whispered into the ear of the unconscious woman.

* * *

**In Fate's mind**

Fate was dressed in her barrier jacket with white cloak, black suit, armor from feet to knees, and one armored gloved right hand, which held Bardiche in his scythe form.

Fate didn't understand what happened. One moment she was on the battlefield with the amazons. The next bombarded by images and a myriad of painful emotions, and now she was here in complete darkness the glow from Bardich's blade her only source of light. Her head pounded. Her heart felt like someone repeatedly squeezed it before stabbing and tearing it to shreds, and she was exhausted.

A dark, seductive voice echoed in the void, "Your emotions are exquisite."

Fate showed no sign of fatigue when she addressed the voice calmly with a commanding tone, "Who are you?"

"I am a manifestation of darkness, its god and my dominion. You mortals have given me the name Dahawk."

The name rung a bell within Fate's mind. She continued in her calm demeanor "where are we?"

The voice chuckled darkly, the sound echoing, "You don't know." It mocked. "We are in your mind my dear Fate." He said her name like a lover.

A shiver of disgust went down Fate's spine. "If we are in my mind then why are you here?"

"You let me in."

Fate was confused. She wouldn't let an evil god into her mind.

"Your dark emotions that Alti helped unleash called to me. Allowed me entrance. Even now you are still run by them no matter how calmly you may act."

Fate clenched her jaw in defiance. "I would never let you in."

The voice gave off a deep dark chuckle. "But you did the moment you gave into rage and your fear of abandonment. Now I must cut this conversation short I have things to do."

She felt a dark wave from nowhere head toward her. A barrier of yellow crackling electricity went up trying to ward off the wave but it went right through it hitting her full force, suffocating her as she tried to repel it with electric shocks.

"Your struggle is pointless. Every action you take makes me stronger." And indeed another more intense wave rushed over her. All her attacks she threw were fruitless. Eventually the dark wave engulfed her. Her barrier jacket and presence disappearing.

The voice chortled evilly, pleased with the victory.

On the outside, the wounds on Fate's back healed much quicker than the mages normal healing even with the help of the ointment. Deep gashes became shallow, torn skin reconnected, till all that was left was the crisscrossing redness of new skin, which would soon disappear too.

**____________________________________  
**

The healer's hut was moved to the outskirts of the village and close to the forest to allow immediate medical care for the injured Amazons. Stepping out of that hut was a stranger, clearly not Amazon, for she wore a white toga instead of leather strips that revealed more than they concealed.

Blue eyes blinked adjusting to the light outside. When she could see clearly again, she noticed some of the amazons from the battlefield making their way back to the village. She turned walking toward her family's hut.

"I'm home" Nanoha called as she opened the door of the hut.

Vivio ran out of her room and jumped on Nanoha, who caught her and gave her a big hug.

Heterocromic eyes searched for her other mother. "Where's Fate-mama?"

"Fate-mama isn't feeling well so she's with the doctor now." Nanoha said gently.

"You mean she's hurt." It wasn't a question Vivio was a smart girl, who easily figured out what was going on.

"Yes. She is. But the doctor said she'll be alright." Nanoha said to sooth the worry in her daughter's eyes.

"Can I see her?"

Nanoha debated the idea with herself. _I don't want her to see Fate the way she is now._

_But she's a worried 10 year old, who wants to see her other parent._

_No. Fate doesn't look good enough to see, and she is unconscious anyway. I don't need her getting even more worried or upset when she sees her._

She made up her mind. "Not now Vivio. Fate-mama needs to rest. But, when she feels better I'll let you visit her okay?"

Vivio looked disappointed, but agreed anyway. "Alright."

That moment Lidea walked out of Vivio's room and Nanoha spotted her.

"Thank you for watching Vivio for us."

Lidea shook her head. "No problem. She's a sweet girl. How was the battle?"

An image of bones and a deer's head followed by a bloody back came to mind, and Nanoha's eyes darkened before lightening back to normal. "Before I left we seemed to be holding them off."

Lidea nodded, and made her way to leave when Nanoha stopped her. "can you stay a little longer I need to go back to the Doctor's hut?"

Lidea looked at her confused "Doctor's hut?"

_Why is she confused? _"Yeah, you know where the injured go."

Realization dawned. "Oh! You mean the healer's hut."

Nanoha had a huh-expression. _T__hat's what I said._

"Yeah, sure I'll watch her."

"Thank you." Nanoha looked down at Vivio "you be good okay?"

Vivio nodded.

" I'll be back soon." Nanoha told them before she turned her back and left the hut.

* * *

**Healer's hut**

When Nanoha entered the hut, she was pleased to see Fate awake and sitting up on the bed. She ran over to her to give her a hug, but stopped in mid embrace. Her arms and body retracted away from her like a snake's bite. She didn't understand it, but she felt an ominous aura coming from her.

"Fate-chan are you okay?" She asked concerned.

Dark blood red eyes with a cruel glint in them gazed at innocent blue. Fate's nose inhaled a deeply smelling a hint of fear coming from Nanoha that evoked a smirk of satisfaction. "Of course never better." Her voice was still soft but deeper than usual.

"How about you? Nanoha." Fate's voice drawled out her name seductively.

Nanoha didn't like it. "I'm fine. But I think you should rest Fate-chan. You don't look alright." Her voice still held concern for her friend despite the weird vibes Fate was giving off.

"Oh. Is this better then." In a blink of an eye Fate held Nanoha beneath her on the bed. Her face centimeters away from Nanoha's. "Do I look better now?"

Nanoha's heart skipped a beat, she hadn't even seen Fate move, and her face was to close. Her stomach felt queasy as hot air blew over her face.

Lust filled eyes gazed at her. "You seem scared. Don't you like this." A hand worked its way up her waist stopping right below her breast, Nanoha's hand halting her progress.

Steel blue eyes met the cruel red glint. "I don't know what's wrong with you Fate. But I want you to stop. You're not acting like yourself. So, rest." She said the last part gently.

Fate's head went back as she laughed hysterically. The sound different from the tinkling of bells it was more like the mid-tones of a cello.

The other amazons in the room turned their attention in the direction of the loud laugh. They saw a blond woman lying over a brunette on the bed. Every Amazon had knowing looks in their eyes _ah young love._ Now, that they knew what was going on some averted their eyes, while the more perverted ones continued watching in excitement.

"You amuse me." Fate backed away from Nanoha.

She took a deep breath feeling better now that Fate was further away from her.

"But, I am fine see." Fate twirled in place.

Nanoha caught a glimpse of a completely healed back. _What? _She went up to Fate grabbed her shoulder, swallowing the urge to let go and distance herself from her- which confused her to know end, and spun her around. Nanoha's eyes held surprise _I didn't imagine it. Her back really is fully healed. But how? I know we are naturally quick healers but it should have at least taken around a week to heal completely._

Fate felt the arms on her shoulders slackened, and decided to take the opportunity to glance at Nanoha's skeptic face. "Your back is completely healed." She said matter-of-factly.

Fate smirked. "Is it. I told you I was fine."

The healer entered the treatment room noticing the blond with the torn back up and about speaking to her brunette friend. She went over to them to check on her patient.

Meanwhile, Fate held a smug gaze while Nanoha continued to look at her suspiciously.

The healer cleared her throat breaking their staring contest.

Nanoha was the first to avert her eyes as her gaze landed on the healer.

"I hope I'm not interrupting." She said politely.

"No your not." Nanoha said dully.

"Good. Then let me check your friend's back." She eyed the blond, who still wore what Nanoha dubbed an annoying smirk.

"Can you turn around?" The healer directed her question to Fate, who obliged.

If it wasn't for a healer's constant professional mask of calm her mouth would have dropped open at the sight of smooth skin that only held faint scars, the only testament to having any injury. "You're healed." She said calmly, although they could hear the awe in her voice. When the shock wore off her spirits brightened "your body must heal quickly." _Quicker than I've ever seen._ She added in her head.

Fate turned to face the healer "well then doc. Can I leave?" It sounded almost mocking.

The healer didn't take notice, or if she did ignored it. She held a relaxed smile. "I see no reason for you to continue staying here."

"Good then I take that as a yes." Fate said as she placed one arm on Nanoha's shoulder and leaned on her as if she were an armrest. Nanoha's face held a cool expression on, and remained unmoving.

The healer saw the displeasure on Nanoha's face, _maybe they got into a fight._ That was her only explanation for she remembered the love and concerned gaze as well as the gentle treatment to the fair-haired girl's back that her friend gave.

"Thank you for your care" Nanoha bowed politely a custom of her heritage, which shocked the healer, who was unused to such a display.

Nanoha straightened her back.

"Your welcome."

Together Nanoha and Fate left the hut with Nanoha putting some distance between them.

* * *

Nanoha entered their shared hut first, leaving the door open. "We're home."

Vivio came out of her room, followed by Lidea. The young girl spotted Nanoha in the middle of the room, Fate just entering the hut.

Her face brightened upon seeing her blond mother feeling better. She ran toward her, passing Nanoha. Arms outstretched for a hug she suddenly stopped a few feet from the blond. She slowly backed away till she stood beside Nanoha. Her hand reached out to her mother. Feeling her mother's gentle squeeze relaxing her some.

Nanoha's face darkened in displeasure of the interaction. Vivio was clearly frightened by Fate, and Fate's face showed she didn't care. In fact, she smiled an unnervingly sweet smile, which was more from pleasure than concern of Vivio's reaction.

_Vivio are you alright?_ Nanoha knew why she backed away, her reaction reinforcing Nanoha's earlier observation of something being seriously wrong with Fate.

_Fate-mama feels funny. It's scary._

Nanoha's arm held Vivio close, her aura changing to a lioness protecting her cub from an unlikely threat; Fate. Her formerly gentle and caring friend.

"I think it would be better if you left for a while." She told Fate almost coldly.

_The fear._ Fate breathed it in. _Sssoooo sweet._ She acted as if she fed off Vivio's fear and Nanoha's fighting spirit.

"Awe. Do I displease you." Fate took a couple steps forward.

Nanoha nudged Vivio behind her.

Steel blue clashed with glinting red. Fate suddenly stopped a meter away from Nanoha. "See you tomorrow on the battlefield." She declared as a promise. She turned and left the hut.

Nanoha felt relief wash over her coupled with turmoil for kicking out her friend when she obviously wasn't well.

Her motherly instinct kicked in, _But Vivio was scared. I had to protect her._

The side of her that loved Fate retaliated. _From Fate! She would never harm Vivio or me. How can I even say I love her._

_I never said I did. _Denial spoke up.

_Oh! Stop denying it already! You know you do. I wouldn't be here if you didn't!_ Love spoke.

_Stop being blinded by love! Did you even see her face?! She enjoyed Vivio's fear, who says she wouldn't harm us._ Cynicism interrupted.

_Cynic! A person in love would never intentionally harm their loved ones!_ Love defended hotly.

_You saying Fate loves you? _Cynicism countered.

_I'm not saying. I know. There has never been a time she wasn't gentle and caring._ Love spoke passionately remembering all the sweet things the red-eyed woman did.

_HHHeeellllooooo! What do you call what just happened?! Caring!_ Cynicism mocked.

_She doesn't feel well._ Love said in a futile attempt to convince Cynicism.

Nanoha rubbed her temples getting a migraine from all the yelling in her head.

_ENOUGH! _Reason cut through the argument between Cyicism and Love. _Let's look at this rationally. Fate is emitting some bad vibes. She's been acting strangely since she woke up, even her healing rate isn't normal. It's safe to say since she's not herself there is no way of knowing what she would do. Sending her away was the best course of action for both Vivio's safety and our peace of mind._

When Nanoha came to, her head finally quite, she found herself hugging Vivio, who was petting her head to sooth her.

"Are you okay now Nanoha-mama?" A cute concerned voice whispered.

Nanoha pulled back and looked at Vivio. She still felt upset, but had a gentle smile on. "Yes. Thank-you Vivio." She looked around. "Where's Lidea?"

"She left already."

Nanoha nodded and stood up.

"What's wrong with Fate-mama?" Nanoha looked down as she heard the timid voice.

She knelt back down, lifting Vivio's head. Worried heterocromic eyes meet calm blue. "I don't know, but whatever it is Nanoha-mama will take care of it." Her eyes filled with determination, a promise to herself and Vivio. _You hear that Fate. I'm not letting you go even if I have to Starlight Break you back to me._

Vivio relaxed. Knowing the look in Nanoha's eyes and being on the receiving end of it one time before when she was under the influence of the Saint Cradle. She had nothing to worry about when her Nanoha-mama was that serious. _Fate-mama will be back soon._ She inwardly smiled.

* * *

AN: I hope you all had a great new year and holidays!

First chapter of the year. And hopefully I'll finish this before the year's up. Oh! On my profile page I posted links to a map of Amazon and Centaur land, as well as the battle layout. Hopefully those will make it easier to visualize.

Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
